Chronicles of Veselle Tenvanni: The Conjurer
by Cearbhail
Summary: Part of the Chronicles series, staring Veselle Tenvanni. A young 13 year-old descendant of a Telvanni family, she is taken in by Master Neloth when her father is killed during the events of Chronicles of Lydia and Maleek's Journey to Find Ruby. She begins her journey to discover her true abilities as a Telvanni mage and greatest conjurer of her time.
1. Welcome to Tel Mithryn

**Cearbhail**:

__Ok, everyone. I finally did it. I wrote Veselle her own story. It is true that I was planning on including her in a future story called the 'Crimson Blades', staring the Crimson Blades guild and the stuff they have to go through as they become a stronger guild, a stronger family. Veselle was going to be that newcomer that joins the guild as the madness of the Chronicles of Ruby wind down. But here it is, Veselle's journey to become a Telvanni wizard.  
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__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
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_Dear Book of Shadows,_

_It's hard to imagine just how different my life is now that I'm living in Solstiem. I've been here only a couple days, but it's just now dawning on me just how different life is going to be for now on. My father is gone, and I'm now living in a giant mushroom with a Telvanni master wizard, Neloth Maryon. I thought he'd be nicer, since he seemed like a good friend to my dad back home in Riften. I guess some of his warmness wore off pretty quickly. The minute I accepted to be his apprentice, it was like a candle flickered. He dropped the warm act, telling me that my magicka would not develop as quickly as it could be if he coddled me. He took me on a brief tour of Raven Rock, telling me be about the local populace that I would have to deal with every once in a while when he sent me out for supplies. After that, he led me straight to the giant mushroom that he grew himself. He said I'd have to sleep on the floor until he was able to grow me my own room. He said it would take a month. Until then, I have to share Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet; he's on some assignment involving the 'heart stones' that Master Neloth is obsessed with._

_So, I was given this book of shadows so that I could write about my experiences with learning magicka from Master Neloth. It's supposed to record my soul into it so that one day when other Telvanni mage apprentices want to learn from the great masters, they can just activate some avatar that my book will create. I don't really understand it, but Master Neloth told me he'd show me one such journal later. It belonged to an old friend of his grandma's or something like that. Oh well, I haven't learned anything about magicka yet, other than some basic enchantments for swords, but that was before I ever moved to Solstiem. I should go now. Master Neloth is calling._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

Master Neloth didn't really know much about privacy. When he called my name, I was still sitting on my little roll out matt, still wearing my pajamas. I had just enough time to close my book before Neloth pushed the door open, staring right at me. "Ah, good, you're awake. Come; make yourself descent and meet me in the main tower. It's time you begin learning about basic Destruction control." He closed the door just as quickly as he opened it, slamming it rather hard. I felt the mushroom room shake from the impact. This thing was alive; I tended to forget that. I was living inside a living fungus. And I wasn't even in my own room. This was Talvas's room. I haven't met him yet, but I heard he was two years older than me. He was fifteen; I was thirteen. I guess Talvas has been learning from Master Neloth for a couple years now. He started at the same age I was now. He was my upperclassman and I had to go to him for any questions I had. If he didn't know, I was allowed to ask Master Neloth. But, until Talvas got back from his assignment, I had no one to turn to except for Master.

The room was pretty simplistic. There was one bed, which I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on. It wasn't my bed, after all. What if Talvas came back in the middle of the night and wanted to collapse in his bed and I just happened to be sleeping in it? I'd imagined he'd get mad at me and that wouldn't make for a great first impression. There was one desk sitting up against the wall, covered in spell tomes and a book of shadows much like my own. I felt tempted to open it up. I mean, Talvas probably wrote in it. It'd give me a chance to know what type of person I'd be studying with. But I resisted the urge and instead grabbed my Telvanni apprentice robes. I slipped the robes on and hurried out the door.

I was hit a sudden blast of falling ash from a fresh explosion from Red Mountain. The wind was heavy and I could see the ash falling from the sky like a light snowfall during the winters of Riften. I looked over to the mountain; I could just barely see it in the distance to the east. The sky above the mountain was glowing faintly red. Seeing how the moons were still up and the stars glowing sharply in the sky, I can't imagine the light being from the sun. Red Mountain must have erupted again. The eruptions were minor and sent more ash and 'heart stones' than actual magma. Vvardenfell was just fine, I guess. We just got hit with all the side-effects of falling ash and those 'heart stones' that Master Neloth continued to talk about.

I rubbed my eyes as I looked around. Ash hoppers dug at the ash, trying to find their breakfast before the other insects woke up. It made me wonder what time it was. Master Neloth didn't seem to sleep very much, if not at all. And so far this is the second night in a row that he's woken me up. Of course, this time I was already awake, but just because I felt the shaking from the explosion up in the main tower. I'm guessing Master needs me to clean something up for him.

I climbed the root ramp leading to the giant flowering mushroom tower that made up Master Neloth's house. When I pushed open the door, I found myself taking one step too far. My leg caught on the levitation spell and I was suddenly pulled off my foot and being lifted upside down as I was lifted up into the interior of the tower. I struggled to keep my robes in place as I screamed in horror. I looked around to keep my bearings but just as fast as I found myself flying up in the air, I felt myself crash onto the spongy floor, landing hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I laid there for a second, trying to catch my breath.

Master Neloth walked over top of me, glancing down at me. "Come now, riding a levitation spell isn't that hard." He reached down and took my hand. "Now, up you go." He lifted me off my back and back onto my feet. He handed me a spell tome, shoving it in my hands. "This is a spell tome. Are you familiar with them? You read them, and they teach you spells. They are magically imbued to send the magic sigils within the text into your mind, allowing you to understand the basic premise of how to use a certain type of spell. Now, normally, I'd throw pieces of garbage like this out my window into the Sea of Ghosts, never to be seen from again. However, I think this might be a good start for you. Read this tome; tell me what you learn when you finish. I'll be by my staff enchanter if you need me; I'll be drinking my dreadful cup of canis root tea. By the by…can you make canis root tea?"

"Umm…" was all I could say before Master Neloth turned to walk away.

"I'll take your conflicted pause as a 'no'." He said as he walked away. "Just read your tome and then come to me when you're ready for the next phase."

I nodded to him and looked down at my spell tome. A giant picture of a flaming palm embroiled into the cover glowed with a light red sheen. The book felt heavy and it looked like it had almost a hundred or so pages inside it. I sighed as I opened it up. I'm all for reading a good book, but as homework? And Master Neloth was probably not going to let me leave this spot until I read the whole thing. I cracked open the book, taking a peak at the magic symbols. The book snapped open and the magic symbols glowed with bright red flames. The pages seemed to flip as quickly as possible. Every symbol on every page seemed to be seared into my memory as the pages flipped by. My eyes flicked over every sigil, every symbol until the book snapped shut at the end of the last page. The book, just flipping through exactly 231 pages of symbols and sigils, crumpled into dust and fell through my hands.

I don't know how long I stood there. My mind had just absorbed an entire text of magicka control and theory about not only the manifestation of fire magicka, but when it was appropriate to summon it and how to make it take a form useable for combat. There were also a few chapters on how to control fire magicka in a way that it didn't burn me or anything I was wearing. Apparently when fire magicka was first designed, no one could control it when the summoned it. It took a price to use it, rather a sacrifice. If someone summoned fire, it usually cost someone's hand or fingers. Heavy blisters, peeling skin, charcoal for limbs. It could get bad before someone actually figured out how to manipulate the fire so that it couldn't hurt someone else.

I think after several minutes my brain started working again. I could tell because Master Neloth was watching me from the other side of the tower's room, sipping his tea loudly as he glared at me. When he finished, he walked over to me, scanning me with his eyes. He stopped by my face, looking at my eyes. "Hmm, interesting. I've never seen an active spell tome before. It was interesting to see how you took to it. No experience with tomes before, only enchantments. Was the process similar to that of breaking down an item and absorbing the knowledge within?"

My head started shaking in response. "Not even close." I found myself saying. "When I used the arcane enchanter, the staff would break down into atoms and dispersed until there was only the enchantment energy left over. Then the energy would be directed into my body. It was a feeling, a knowing of how it felt, of how it was used. It was a natural calling. But…that book, that spell tome. All those pages flipped so quickly but my eyes darted over every symbol, every sigil. And it still remains in my head. And I know…I _know_ how to create fire now. Even if I understand how to do it, I don't think my body has the ability to create it yet. I need to train first."

Master Neloth nodded. "That is good. Can't have you becoming a master just by reading a book. If it were that simple, everyone would be a Telvanni master wizard. It takes years to master your spells. By the way, the spell that just threw you into a mini coma for six hours was _Flames_, one of the easiest Destruction spells ever known."

"_Six hours_?" I asked as I looked up at him. "It's only been a minute!"

His eyebrows arched. "Oh? You didn't know? The sun has already risen and set. It's time for bed now. I knew it would be a day long process, reading a tome. Your brain needed time to sort the information. This is why I hate tomes. Sure, it's instant knowledge, but it's empty knowledge. You understand theory, perhaps even technique, but even you admitted that you lacked experience and training to use what you learned from the tome." He waved me off. "Now, go get something to eat and then call it an early night. I will give you the rest of the night off seeing that you've been through a lot today."

Master Neloth turned away, walking back to his table filled with research material. He didn't say anything else to me, just running through various papers. So…I guess I'm free for the rest of the night. What should I do? As I started looking around, my body felt suddenly exhausted. My legs were screaming at me to sit down. I guess standing still for six hours isn't exactly the best thing to do. I'm surprised that I didn't fall off my feet while I stood still for that long. I looked over at Master Neloth. I hadn't really talked to him since I got here. And since I didn't really have anyone else to talk to except for Varona Nelas, she's the steward; Ulves Romoran, the cook; and Elynea Mothren, the mycologist. Varona is nice but she's usually pretty busy so I don't like bothering her. Same with Elynea. She's always looking for signs of rot in the tower. So, since I didn't really feel like talking to them, I wonder if Master Neloth would talk to me. He is my new Master and I wanted to know as much about him as possible, if not only for the reason of having some sort of familiarity with him.

"Master, I have a question." I started.

"Yes, yes. I am sure that you are adjusting to life here and it's hard on you, and you are still grieving for the loss of your father. I will admit that I do miss him as well, even though I barely knew him. That however does not make me want to discuss random subjects with you, nor comfort you. I would _if_ I was _not_ your master, but it is necessary to remember that there are…certain limits between the relationship between a master and his apprentice. Comforting is one of those conditions unfortunately; it can produce weakness in the apprentice if the apprentice is coddled too much. It can also send a bit of rebellious streak later in development in the mid-teens, about two years from now. Seeing how that's when your true talents will start to blossom, I'd rather not repeat the mistake I made with my ex-wife ten years ago." He turned away from his research to look at me. "Do not worry, Talvas should return shortly. I sent him off to a heart stone deposit to collect some heart stones for me to use on my studies."

"Is there any research I can help you with?" I walked over to the table to see what he was researching.

Master Neloth only sighed and stuck out his hand to keep me from getting too close to the table. "Not to be rude, Apprentice Veselle, but this material is too difficult for a mere apprentice to comprehend. But if it will satisfy your curiosity, I will tell you it has something to do with heart stones and their ability to bring inanimate objects to life; much like the ash spawn that have been popping up recently and attacking my tower. They are born from the ash. I believe it has something to do with the heart stones, since these ash spawn did not exist before the heart stones landed on this island. I am looking into how to control the effects of heart stones so that I can use them to control the ash spawn that attack my tower. If I can command my own army of ash spawn, imagine how powerful the Telvanni name will become again. The army of House Redoran will pale in comparison to what I will be able to create."

He pushed me away from his table and I sighed. "Why did you invite me here to study from you if you aren't going to teach me?"

He looked over at me, glaring at me. "You've been here for a grand total of _two_ days, Veselle. I do believe yesterday was your orientation and adjustment to your new environment. And today you spent the whole day learning how conjure up your first Destruction spell. You may not realize this, but that sort of knowledge drains a lot out of your mental power. You need to rest, so this will become an order, whereas last time it was a mere suggestion. Return to bed, get some sleep, and I will wake you for when it's time to continue." He turned to glare at me. "Do not forget I know what's best for you to know, what's best for you to ignore, and what's best to learn on your own. And my research is something you should ignore for now. It would only hurt your tiny head trying to contemplate the meaning behind it."

I had no idea if that was some sort of insult or his way of keeping me out of his business. But, I guess I should just take it for what it was. He didn't want me delving into his personal research. He was a master wizard. Whatever he was looking into was in the realm of master wizardry. I was just beginning to comprehend what a Flame spell was. Whatever he was working on had to be experimental, not figured out like what I had ingrained into my head. I nodded and started turning around. "Ok, Master. I guess I'll just go to bed then."

"Wait." He called as I started to leave. When I turned around, he grabbed onto my arm, spinning me to face him. "I just realized something. You told me that you had made a contract with a Vermeister, and it showed up in Tamriel to protect you when you were dying. I have been doing research into that as well, and I have concluded one fact."

I waited for him to continue but he was suddenly silent. "Umm…Master? What is it?"

"The only way a being like a Daedra or an Aedra can materialize in the mortal realm is if the caster offers up energy to supplement for the being's composed body, usually transformed within the temporal rift opened between dimensions, also known as portals. The Vermeister that appeared in Riften and assisted you could only take physical form if you had the magicka reserves powerful enough to assist the creature in forming. And Akatosh's Vermeister is one of the most powerful Aedra around. Do you know how much magicka it would take to summon such a creature?" When I shook my head, he only sighed in contempt. "It would take normally three fully-versed Telvanni mages to push out that much energy to allow that thing to come through the portal, and even then it wouldn't be bound or complete, but a mere shadow of the real thing. That being said, while you have no experience with magicka, no natural ability other than your Telvanni blood, it would seem that your magicka capability is well above that of a normal apprentice. As I mentioned in Raven Rock when I first met you. The gods seem to think you are powerful; and for that reason I should fear you. Not for what you might do to me, but for what you might do to yourself and others. For this reason, before you go to bed, I want you to shoot as much fire magicka as you can into the sky until you can't summon it anymore. I dare not say how long it will take. That would be like asking how long it would take for the ocean to drain through a small hole in the bottom of the planet. No one could possibly predict such an event." He nodded to me. "Good luck. Hope you finish before the sun rises, for that is when we continue."

I couldn't believe he was telling me to stand outside and shoot fire into the sky. "What if I catch your giant mushroom on fire?"

He gave me a leveled look; bending down to see me eye-to-eye. "You mess up my house, and I will show you what a real Telvanni mage can really do when he feels threatened." He regained his posture, my head coming only up to his chest. He snapped around, the backs of his robe flapping with the effort. He strolled back up to his table. "Well, you better get going. The sooner you extinguish your magic, the sooner you sleep. I suggest you hurry. Sun sets in one hour."

I hurried as I turned to the giant hole. From what I remember yesterday, Master Neloth designed a levitation spell that operated in both fashions. I just had to want to go down. So, I approached the giant hole, putting my feet within the blue glowing circle. I focused my intention on going down and I was suddenly pulled off my feet into a silent gravity-less field. I swayed and struggled to stay right-side up as I was lifted off my feet and drifting over to the giant hole without any ability to control it. My hands and feet started stinging, my stomach turning, my heart racing, and my head spinning with adrenaline as I found myself hovering over a giant 30 foot drop straight down. I still remember landing on my back from a one foot drop coming up. I didn't want to fall 30 feet next.

My little field of no gravity started pulling me down and I slowly, but still pretty quickly, descended to the floor. It was a lot calmer than I thought it would be, and it did wonders for my heart to know that it wasn't a really fast descent. As I got towards the floor, I was forced to hover for a few seconds before gravity returned and I fell the rest of maybe 6 inches before I landed. I wasn't really ready for it so I stumbled and fell to my knees, throwing my hands out to catch me as I did so.

I was glad to feel the soft spongy mushroom floor under my feet and hands. I released a breath I didn't know I was building up, and all my tension faded away with it. When I did that, I was surprised that the floor underneath me erupted into open flames. Seeing the floor erupt into flames like that made me scream in surprise. Thinking fast, I wanted nothing more than to escape the flames before they burnt me. The levitation circle read my intention and flung me up the hole as quickly as it could. It ignored the gentle ascent but instead shot me straight up as quickly as it could. Next thing I knew I was forced into a sudden halt as I reached the end of the spell's reach. It threw me to the side and I flew through the air before crashing into the wall where Master Neloth had stacked some old books. The books collapsed on top of me, and I covered my head to protect myself as I was buried underneath the books. Some of the books were old historical texts and had thousands of pages inside them. They weighted close to 10 pounds. That's pretty heavy when there are about 30 of them falling on top of you all at once.

"What did you do?" Master Neloth practically screamed as he charged over to me. Then he started sniffing the air and walked over to his tunnel. He looked straight down, nodding. "Ok, now I understand." He warmed up a spell and launched it straight down. I watched as a cold bitter wind blasted from his hand and disappeared down the tunnel. I waited under the stack of books as Master Neloth dealt with the currently burning tower. It only lasted a few seconds, and then he turned to face me. "Do you now see just how dangerous you can be? This is not a game you're playing, Apprentice Veselle. You're working with volatile magic and it will destroy you and all that you love if you do not first master it. And the only way to master your magic is to master yourself first. And we cannot begin that process until you have no magicka in your system to conflict with." He reached down, took my arm, and hauled me out of the caved in pile of books. "This time I will supervise you. If this happens again, you will be punished."

He began pulling me by my arm. He forced me close to him so that we both fit inside the circle and then we were both pulled off our feet by the spell. We drifted down the tunnel and I could see just how fast the fire magicka had spread up the tower's interior. I had to be more careful. Just imagine what would happen if I accidentally exploded with fire magicka when I slept. I might end up killing myself in my sleep just because the entire room would burn to the ground, with me inside it no less. When we reached the bottom of the tunnel, Master Neloth quickly pulled me outside, gently tossing me to the middle of the field just far away from his house that I think it was safe to practice magic. He brought out a small wand embedded with a small pointy clear crystal. He started by drawing a circle in the ash. Then he drew another circle on the outside of that circle, and then another one. In the first circle he started drawing some sigils and runes that I didn't understand. He repeated the process for all three circles, all sigils ending inside the circle that it was written for.

Master Neloth walked into the center of the circles. "I call upon the powers of the suns, moons, and stars." He said as he stretched out his hands. The sigils and lines drew into the ash on the ground started glowing with red, yellow, and blue lights of power. "Create a training space for my apprentice so that even if she wields forces strong enough to crumble mountains to dust, evaporate oceans into boiling steam, or even split nirn in halves, that she will not affect anything outside the first circle: the Circle of Confinement. Keep all effects of weather out of the second circle, so that my apprentice can train in typhoons, ash storms, and all forms of ill weather without dampening her spirits or ruin her concentration with the Circle of Enclosure. And finally, ward away all forms of malicious intent, from wild animals, to conniving Daedra. Keep them out of the circles with the final circle, the Circle of Protection. Oh mighty Lords: Azurah, Meridia, please offer your protection of my student while she learns her craft."

And just like that, the circles of light enclosed around the rings and sigils, burning into the ground, the vey ash turning into what looked like a flat surface. When the light faded away, I could still see the circles and sigils like they were ink carefully drawn into the ash where it sat. Master Neloth walked outside the circles, waving me to join him. "Now, come. It's time for you to train." I walked into the circle. As I passed the first one, I felt a push on me, but as I stepped past it all resistance vanished. It felt like some of my energy left me as I crossed the line. As I passed the second line, the wind and the heat of the setting sun, as well as the cold coming in for the night, vanished as well. And then, when I crossed into the third circle, I felt a welcoming feeling of freedom to explode if I wanted to. I just knew that I could unleash everything I had and this circle could handle it.

Neloth nodded to me. "You can feel the effects already, can you not? Do I even have to tell you which circles are which?"

I shook my head. "No, Master. I understand just fine." And I did. I could feel each circle as I stepped over it. "So, is this where you step out of the first circle and watch me from the second one?"

He smirked and started backing over the line. "Oh, firecracker, huh? Good, Talvas didn't have your…I'll call it spirit for a lack of a better term, or maybe is it a backbone? Oh well, he has one now, because I didn't coddle him every step of the way." He crossed his arms as he crossed into the second circle. "Now, girl. I will instruct you on how to do this quickly and effectively. Ever hear of a temper tantrum? Where you unleash all your emotional baggage all at once? That's what I want you to do. You've had a hard month, Veselle. Now…just let it out. Cry, scream; throw all you have at the world. You'll be amazed at how well this method works. And when you're exhausted, all your magicka will be spent and you'll sleep for hours. You wanted me to listen to your little whines and connect to you on some sort of emotional level. This is the closest as you're ever going to get. Just let it all out."

I stood there for a couple seconds, looking from him to the ash where I stood. He wanted me to cry and complain? That wasn't me! I didn't do stuff like that. It would be embarrassing to do that in front of Master Neloth. So, I kicked my foot in the ash, looking for any way to get myself started without drawing too much embarrassment on myself. Master Neloth started groaning and moaning as he stood there waiting for me. His quiet complaints and groans only grew louder until he was pacing around his circle, glaring daggers at me. He crossed his arms and glared at me, smirking at me with his judging face, practically telling me that I was wasting his time, and the sad part was that I was wasting his time. It was not just my own resting time I was using up, I was using the time he had to research what he really wanted to do. When he invited me down here to train, he had to give up his personal time to teach me, and here I was, standing in a circle of ash as the sun began setting, my precious master standing there, watching me as I wasted all the time he had put in for me to get me as far as I have gone already.

Just standing there, watching him watch me made me angry. "Just say it!" I screamed to him. "I'm just a waste of your time!" As I said it, a bright fire roared all around me, encircling me with a small two foot wall of flames all around me.

He smirked. "Can't say I don't agree with you. You are pretty adept at wasting valuable time I have. I could be learning how to get rid of the ash spawn problem affecting not only my home, but Raven Rock as well. Pandering to your schedule and petty girlish needs are not on my top priority list, but you force your needs onto me like I'm your father. Well, I'm _not_ your father, little girl. I'm your master, and I will not belittle myself to such an insolent whelp like you."

Just hearing him mention my father made my heart cry out in pain. The fire exploded all around me. I watched as it roared like a wave, crashing onto the invisible wall, which was suddenly encased by a white glowing shield spell. "Is it so bad to want to be loved? Is it so bad that I want you to take care of me like a parent would?" I screamed to him. "I just lost my dad; I just lost everything I knew, everyone I loved! I left the only home I knew and moved here to this new land with new experiences to be had. I'm a little shaken up from having to transition to this new life! I could use some sort of support, someone to hold me, someone to tell me that it will be ok! And all you've done is glare at me and shove me in the corner of your tower while you read your books! It pisses me off, having you, my new father-figure, push me to the side like an annoying pet!"

"Yes!" Master Neloth hissed from the other side of the growing flames. "I can see the anger pouring from you. Your feelings are true. Tell me more; tell me how much you hate me. Make me regret having you as my student."

"I don't regret coming here, but hate your lack of privacy. I could have been naked this morning when you barged into the room." I didn't really expect it, but the flames poured even higher, roaring over 20 feet above me, all crashing against the invisible wall of magicka. Tears started flowing from my eyes and I fell to my knees as I started shaking. "I miss my father! I hate that Mehrunes Maven took him away from me! I don't hate coming here, but I hate that I lost him forever! And I thought you'd make me feel better; make me feel welcome to be here. And you haven't done anything of the sort. You shoved me in a small hut where your other apprentice sleeps. What if he just runs into the room while I changing? That would be so embarrassing! I'm sick of drinking canis root tea, I'm sick of eating ash yams, I miss my honey, I miss my bread I made into sandwiches, and I miss my old room!"

The flames all around me started dying down and I found myself breathless. I was already down on my knees, but now it felt different. I felt relieved, empty inside but relieved. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks. I could still see my father's smile as he lied in his coffin, his body horribly mangled from the falling ceiling. He barely looked like the man he was when he went to prison. But the smile on his face looked the same. Of everything wrong with his body, his smile remained the same. And I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down as the fires died down all around me. The fires got low enough to where I could see Master Neloth's glare. His stance and his glare didn't change as the fires all died away. When they finally got low enough, he waded into the circle, blowing the remaining fire away with some frost spell he had barely warmed up.

He stopped a couple inches away from me and bent down to look me eye-to-eye. He nodded once. "Good job. I'm impressed with how easily you took to expressing your true emotions. It took Talvas three nights to release himself like that. You've earned a good night's sleep. I'm sorry to say that you burnt your robes while you exploded. I'll begin enchanting your next set of training robes to withstand the intense fire that your body produces. Once we get into frost and lightning, I will add additional enchantments to protect your clothes from melting or freezing." He patted me on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Do no worry; I will block the memory of your naked body so that you will be spared embarrassment tomorrow morning when you see me."

I looked down to see that my robes were completely gone. He was right. I must have burned them off while I lost control of my fire magicka. I felt so embarrassed that a sudden explosion of fire magicka roared out of me, almost consuming the entire circle for 30 feet or higher. It was a sudden explosion and ended just as quickly. As it finished, I could hear Master Neloth snicker as he walked away. "I will also create an amulet that will prohibit your emotions from causing sudden bursts of magicka. I almost forgot about that."

When Master Neloth was back inside his tower, I looked around for a second for anyone nearby watching me. I didn't see anyone, so I ran out of the circle and to Talvas's room as quickly as I could. I pulled the door open and threw myself inside, closing the door as quickly as I could. I buried my face in my hands and resisted as much as I could from exploding with more fire magicka. I walked over to my little roll out mat and grabbed my blanket. I wrapped it around me like a toga, securing it with a rope I found on Talvas's desk. It may not be the best outfit I've ever worn, but it would do for now. I silently sobbed in my hands while trying to control my emotions as much as I could. I laid my head down on my mat and closed my eyes.

"Umm…" I heard someone call from the doorway. I could barely open my eyes, but I could see a tall-ish Dunmer teenager standing in the doorway. He had long hair for a guy, brushed back in a regal style I had heard about in Raven Rock. "Hi." He said, looking down at me. He pointed down at me, and then gestured to his room. "This is…well…how can I say this without coming out as rude?" He mumbled to himself. "Why is there a naked girl sleeping on the floor of my room?"

I looked down, hoping that I was still wearing my blanket. I was. It was still perfectly wrapped around my body. I sighed my relief as I sat up. "First off; I'm dressed." I said to him as I stood up. I stuck out my hand for a handshake. "Second off; I'm Master Neloth's new apprentice. And until he gets my room built off the ground, I'm…well…I'm stuck as your roommate." I tried to smile as nicely as I could. All it got me was Talvas grabbing my arm and throwing me out of his room. When I turned to object, he threw my mat and pillow in my face hard enough to knock me off my feet. I fell down the staircase, landing in the soft ash right as Talvas slammed his door shut. He opened his door to look at me. "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't want to wake up at 0400 when Master Neloth comes to collect you in two hours. Go sleep in your little circle of protection." He slammed his door behind him, leaving me out in the cold dark night. I kicked the dirt as I looked around. What was I going to do now? I couldn't sleep outside!

I trudged myself into the main tower, carrying my rolled up sleeping mat with me, my pillow in my other arm. I nudged the main door open with my shoulders, ramming myself inside the tower. I levitated myself up the tunnel, landing awkwardly on the landing circle. I looked over at Master Neloth, who was too busy reading his books to even notice me. I found myself a small corner, unrolled my mat, and fluffed up my pillow. I lied my head down and closed my eyes. Oh well, ground is ground. Might as well sleep here.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And imagine, this is only chapter one, and I already have such a strong start. I realize this is really the second chapter, since her introduction was back in Maleek's Journey to find Ruby. But the remainder of her story will play out here as she grows into a capable mage. hope you enjoy the story.  
_


	2. Magicka-weaving

**Cearbhail**:

__Second chapter is up. We have a cameo from someone from one of my oldest stories. You'll know it when you see it. Anyway, it's a history laden chapter with some humor on Neloth's ability to be so focused on his work and his inner thought process that he literally forgets what he's currently talking about and what he's about to do, and then goes in a loop of remembering what he wants to do and getting side-tracked again.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

[Veselle Tenvanni]

_Dear book of shadows,_

_Last night was ok, I guess. The sound of Master Neloth flipping through pages of his research papers and hearing him sip tea was actually more relaxing than sleeping in some boy's room. When I woke up, I could still hear him flipping through various papers. He hadn't even left his spot since I lied, down. At least I don't think he did. I don't know how long I can do this though; sleeping on the floor like this. It wouldn't be any different in Talvas's room though. I'd still be on the floor, and he probably snores. Well, anyway, Master Neloth tried to get me out of my mat up by nudging me with his foot, telling me to get up. He told me to write my daily journal entry, something about my thoughts and then something I learned the previous day. I don't know what he'll teach me today, but I guess he has something planned. Oh well, I don't really know what to expect right now._

_Ok, so the spell I was working on yesterday is still fresh in my mind. The tome of flames was special, I think. I don't know who wrote it, but when they designed the spell tome, it crumbled to dust after I read it. Not that it mattered; the spell was inside my head now. I can manifest fire magicka now. However, I don't have much control over it. Last night I burned through my training robes. It will take a while until I can control that sort of magic. Today I was hoping to spend some time looking at the training circles Master set up for me to train in. If I can learn how to inscribe at least the Circle of Protection, I think that will be an important thing for the future, you know, in case I run into a Mehrunes Maven again. Oh, Master Neloth is calling me. I should go now._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and looked up at Master Neloth. He nudged me to stand up. I readjusted my invented blanket toga and stood up from my mat. My body's muscles seemed a little sore and I fell to my knees. My breath was quick to hurt my chest and I felt really weak. What was going on with me? I forced myself to stand up and as I walked up to Master Neloth, I found my body both sluggish and twitchy as I moved. He noticed me wobbling on my feet and turned to face me. "Fear not, this is a natural occurrence to untrained apprentices. It's called 'burnout'; it is a natural reaction from your body when you run through your entire reserve of magicka. It's a good thing. It will increase your ethereal muscles, improving your ability to hold and control your magicka better, finer tuning your spell-crafting. The pain should pass after a few weeks of intense training. Until then, prepare to feel worse and worse as the week progresses. We shall take it easy today, however, we must not be too easy on you or your finer control of magicka will waiver and you'll only stagnate to the level of a _human_ mage." He spat the word human at me.

I nodded to him, rubbing my sore arms. I think it helped the feeling of pain a little. "Ok, Master. As long as it's normal."

He looked down at my blanket toga and shook his head. "What are you wearing? Where are your training robes?" He said to me in a scornful manner.

I stood there for a few seconds, hoping I wouldn't have to say it. When he crossed his arms and started tapping is foot on the floor, I sighed as I shrugged. "I burnt through them last night. You said that you'd replace them and enchant them so that I wouldn't burn through them again. Also do the same with frost and lightning."

He said, "Hmmm.", rubbing his chin as he did so. "Funny…I don't recall that happening or saying that I'd do anything of the sort." He looked down at me. "Did I say that I was going to wipe my memory by any chance?"

I nodded. "Yes. Because you saw me naked."

He nodded. "Sounds like something I'd do. If that were the case…" He spun away from me and charged over to his arcane enchanter. He expressed his joy by saying, "Just as I thought." He grabbed the robes resting on top of the arcane enchanter. He paused, saying, "Wait a second, what is this?" He grabbed a silver necklace with some black and red stone embedded in it that was sitting next to the robes. "It seems to be enchanted to block emotional interference with spell control. Interesting. New fire-protection robes and an amulet designed to block emotions from unleashing outbursts of magicka." He turned to face me. "I think I understand what happened last night. Am I to guess that last night I introduced you to emotional draining? That would explain your lack of magicka, your sore muscles, your new clothes, and this amulet."

I nodded to him. "You drew me three circles to protect me while I casted my flames spell. You don't remember that either?"

He shrugged. "I remember bits and pieces, but the entire event seems to be erased from my memory." He shook it off, waving his own hand to dismiss it. "If I push the memory, it might return." He threw the robes and necklace at me. "Hurry and get dressed. Today's lesson is vital to…well…something I'm sure." He walked off to continue studying from his research.

I walked off to a smaller room where no one could see me and I replaced my blanket with my new robes. Once I slipped them on, I could feel the immediate protection against fire. I looked down, noticing I wasn't handed any boots. Oh great, I guess I would have to go through boots like I did my robes last night. When I walked out of the room, I looked at Master Neloth. "Master…you didn't give me any boots!"

He snapped his head around, glaring at me. Then he looked at my feet, nodding. "I guess I didn't." He walked from his table over to his arcane enchanter. He looked around it, shrugging. "Must have slipped my mind last night. Fear not, I have plenty in storage. I'll just grab a pair and enchant them with the same effect that I did your robes." He stopped, and then looked at me. "Wait a second. I did that on purpose. The robes, it makes sense. They're not enchanted with a soul gem…ah, I see." He walked up to me. When he got close enough, he bent down, grabbing my sleeve of my robes. "Ah, yes. I was right. But to hold this together there would have to be a…" He reached for my chest, grabbing something near my neck. He started running his hand across the seam of my collar. "Ah, yes. A complete series of heart stones have been placed around the collar of the robe. And they worked. Interesting. Did I take notes on this before I wiped my mind?" He stepped away from me returning to his table.

I was so confused that I just stood there. I looked down at my deep red robes, grabbing onto the sleeves and then messing around my neck area for whatever was there. I noticed a small black and red rock attached to the robe's collar as some sort of round decoration. I looked at the necklace. The round stone embedded inside the silver pendant was the same round stone as the ones around my neck. It must be a heart stone. I slipped the necklace back over my neck. I raced up to Master Neloth to see him flipping from page to page, trying to figure something out. "Master? What is it?"

"Yes, yes, I was right!" He was muttering to himself. "I figured it out." He looked down at me, cracking a smile that I hadn't seen yet. "You burning your robes gave me a valuable reason to attempt long lost magicka only practiced by my mother's side of the family." He nudged me forward to his table. Hundreds of papers littered the whole table. How he managed to stay organized was beyond me. And these notes were so complex that I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was reading. He gestured to a piece of paper with a drawn representation of a heart stone with descriptions of what the heart stones were made of and how they affected the temporal rifts and magicka containing properties. It sounded like something important. "This right here were the notes I took on heart stones and how their properties were similar to the properties of soul gems. They can hold and displace energy equal to that of petty soul gems. However, they cannot consume souls, just energy…plain elemental energy. For this reason, it would seem that they can be used to collect elemental energy and hold a charge similar to a soul gem, while also being used to create…yes…" He hissed as he looked at a different note. "We're taking a field trip today. Grab your boots." He said, looking down at my feet.

"Um…Master…" I pleaded with him as I pointed down to my feet. "I don't have any yet."

He smacked his head. "Oh, of course. I got side-tracked with my research again." He walked into the storage room, grabbed a set of boots, and walked back out to us. "These will do for now." He tossed them to me.

"What if I burn through them?" I asked him.

"You burn through your clothes?" He asked me like he had already forgotten.

"Yes!" I almost screamed to him. "That's why you had to replace my robes!"

"In that case, I can see why you'd be worried about roaming Solstiem with unenchanted boots." He rubbed his chin in thought. "I guess before we can go that I will need to enchant them. Oh wait…" He said again he smacked his head. "that's right. That was today's lesson." He grabbed me and dragged me over to another table, one that had a small collection of heart stones. "You can thank Talvas for bringing me these heart stones last night. He gathered a whole box of these heart stones. Without these, I doubt I would have developed a new method for enchanting your robes using ancient methods combined with the lasting effects of the newer methods. These heart stones are just…a perfect blend of the old and the new." He said to me.

"Wait…" I said, raising my hand to stop him before he went off on a rant and forgot what we were doing again. "This is a new method for you? Are you sure the enchantments even work?"

He glared down at me like I was an idiot. "Are you an idiot? You're talking to a master wizard. Of course I tested your robes after I enchanted them. I made sure the heart stone's enchantment affected every fiber connected to them. I, in short, tried to destroy your robes with every bit of my fire mastery. Even the heart stones were unbreakable. Simply amazing when you think of it. Soul gems may shatter, but not heart stones. And when a soul is extracted the soul gem crumbles. When energy is extracted from the heart stone, it does not crumble like the soul gem. It remains intact. I'm beginning to wonder what the downside to the heart stone really is. My research remains inconclusive on such a question. Which is why I'm glad you're assisting me with my research, as did my late wife."

"Your…what?" I asked.

He looked down at me. "My apprentice before Talvas. She trained here with me. And we got pretty intimate. We were both younger at the time, and driven by such impulses. She is the mother of my daughter Brelyna. She assisted me in my research and when I asked if I could implant a heart stone into her body to replace her heart, she was overjoyed to assist me in manifesting a new way to connect us to potential energy. My experiment failed, unfortunately and my wife died, but not before losing her sanity. She stormed off and I didn't see her for a couple weeks until she returned half-crazed and paranoid of everything around her. I tried to remove the heart stone, but without a living heart to give her, there was nothing I could do. She passed away from ash poisoning. It was my fault, and I've been trying to find out what I did wrong. I won't be attempting that experiment again until I have an answer for what I did wrong. There aren't enough Telvanni mages left to risk it."

He waved it off and started picking up a few heart stones. "And…I'm helping you how?"

He gestured to the heart stones in his hand. "Your robes are enchanted with energy held by the heart stones. I will be able to see exactly how your body takes to having that energy lingering around your body. Will you go crazy like my deceased apprentice, or will you remain unaffected? And if you are driven crazy, will taking the stones away from your aura take away the negative effects? If the effects do fade, how quickly will they return? Will there be withdrawal symptoms to contend with? It's these things that we need to know about heart stones before using them in mass quantity. And I cannot test on myself. If the stones mess with my mind how will I be able to fix it? It's easier if a less experience apprentice handle such new and untested magic. Easy to break the pattern of new magical holds since your magicka is still young and malleable." Jeez, how many big words that I didn't understand did my Master know?

"I'm not sure if I'm your apprentice or test subject." I said to him as I crossed my arms.

He harrumphed at the comment and grabbed my hands. He slapped a couple heart stones in my hand. "Any good apprentice participates in experiments. It is the only way the apprentice learns how to think critically and analytically when testing out new spells. The art and science of spell-casting is ever changing. Just keeping the old and tested is dangerous and boring. If we are to keep up with the evolving planet, we need to evolve our methods of magic as well. That is why magicka-weaving was replaced with soul gems. And now, I have taken both of them to enchant heart stones." He looked at me, nodding. "Right, that is enough explanation for one day, I feel. Give you too much of it and you'll forget everything I've said." He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the table he drinks his tea from every day. "Here's what I want from you today." He gestured to the stones in my hand. "I want to enchant your boots with fire protection using these stones; however, I feel that you are ready to fill these stones with the energy necessary to provide the base enchantment. So, here's your task today. Enchant these heart stones. Nothing more, nothing less. Then we can go on our field trip."

I nodded and looked down at the stones. "Um…so…how?"

He nodded at me to follow him. He dragged me to the giant collection of journals and books that I crashed into last night. He reached down and grabbed one of the more slender books, only 600 pages or so. He handed it to me, saying, "This is a book of shadows. And not just any book of shadows, but my grandmother's. She was the one in our family that rediscovered the art of magicka-weaving. Ever since, we've been relearning the forgotten method from her."

I looked down at the journal. "…Ok…So, what do I do with it?"

"Well, open it, of course." He walked away from me over to his tea kettle as it started whistling. "Varona! My water is ready for the vile you call tea. Varona? Varona!" He called down the tunnel to the exit. "Blast it all, where is that woman?" He practically growled as he turned to look at the whistling tea kettle. "I have to do everything around here." He started pouring the hot water into a cup, taking a second to look at me. "Well, don't just sit there and gawk at me. Open the blasted book already! Apprentices these days need their hands held for everything." He muttered to himself and he dipped a canis root into the tea.

I turned my attention back to the book. I glanced at the cover, seeing the engraved sigil of the name Davilia Modryn. When I popped open the book, I didn't see anything that glowed with sigils and the pages didn't start flipping their pages like with the flames tome. So, I opened up and flipped through the pages. "Um…ok. So, what am I looking for?" I looked at Master Neloth, but he didn't move or say anything. He just sat in his seat, looking down at his cup of tea. I called out to him again, but he didn't move from his spot or acknowledge me in any way. I was starting to get really tired of being ignored by him.

When I opened my mouth to call out to him again, I heard someone laughing from behind me. I turned to look who it was. It didn't sound like Varona. Standing there was a woman dressed in Telvanni robes. She looked semi-transparent, like she wasn't really there. When she looked at me, she nodded a welcome and gestured over to Neloth. "Don't mind my grandson; he's just not stuck in a time-lapse like you are."

"What?" I asked her. "Wait…you're his grandmother?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am Davilia Ocato. Well, I was Davilia Modryn when I began my book of shadows. And technically, I am a shade of the real Davilia. I am a collection of her thoughts, personality, hopes, dreams, and heart. In a sense, I am a piece of the real Davilia's soul. If you are reading my book of shadows then…you must have a question that you need answered. My pages are welcome for you to browse through if you ever need guidance or just curious about whom I was. But…if you really want help, you can just call on me. I will answer your call and then we'll go into a time-lapse, much like his one." She gestured to the slightly blue room. "When we talk, time will be frozen. So, you called me out for a reason. What is it?" She caught me by surprise so badly that I was still frozen where I stood. She waved her hand in front of me. She finally shrugged and said, "I think I may have frozen her too. She is the one holding my book, right?" She looked at the book in my hands.

I found myself moving backwards as she leaned down to look at the book. "Yeah, I'm still here. I'm just surprised is all. Um…Master Neloth wanted me to learn the old way of storing energy. He called it magicka-weaving."

She nodded. "Ah, of course he would make you talk to me then. I guess I have no chance but to teach you then." She walked over to me, placing her hand on my head. "Relive my past, where I first learned it and see if you can learn it for yourself." Her voice reverberated inside me. I saw a white light overtake me and it felt like I was pulled out of my body.

…

[Davilia Modryn]

It was the first day of my Enchanting for Beginners class. The other kids around me were still talking to each other in wonder over J'skar spending half the Destruction class time invisible, as if they weren't able to perceive that he was there. I noticed him from the very start, but I thought it was part of the lesson, so I didn't say anything. And now, I'm sitting in a table surrounded by a Khajiit boy that kept looking at me, and an Altmer that kept trying to get a smile out of me. I was getting annoyed with both of them. I was burying my face in a book for a reason.

"I'm Erandur." The Altmer said, trying to look around my book. "What's your name?"

"Please leave me alone." I said to him, pulling my book closer to me. "I just want to learn about enchanting; I don't want any friends." Boy, that was a lie. I wanted to have some friends but I just didn't know how to be social to others, especially boys. Every time I tried to talk to a boy, I stutter over my words and it made me blush. I hated being so shy, but there was nothing I could do about it.

"How many of you are in the Battlemage Pre-Training Program?" A person who I believed to be our instructor asked as she walked into the room. She looked older and more experienced. I could feel the magicka aura thick around her body, like a protective shield. She had to be a battlemage. Since she asked who were pre-battlemages, I raised my hand. I saw Erandur and the Khajiit raise both of their hands with me at the same time. My stomach turned over. Oh no…these two were battlemages too. My arm started to lower down, but I held it halfway up while sliding down into my chair. I just wanted to disappear and hope these two didn't notice me any further.

The instructor started telling us about some after class evening training program she was going to start. I also learned that the Khajiit sitting next to me was Vatu. I avoided looking at him because it reminded me of the slave my mother used to have back in Morrowind, back when she worked on a Dres family plantation as an apprentice to her master, Mistress Dratha. When she was there with her master when a Khajiit slave broke free of her locks and overran the plantation with the help of some Dunmer and the other slaves. My mother later worked with more slaves, even owning one of her own. I grew up in Morrowind with mom, while dad lived in Chorrol in the Fighters Guild. I moved here to escape Telvanni politics and…well… my mom wanted me to have a slave too. I didn't want it so I came here instead to learn magic under the disguise of getting a degree in enchanting at the Mages Guild's Arcane University. That's why I didn't want to sit next to this Khajiit; he looks too much like the one my mom tried to buy for my fifteenth birthday two weeks days ago. And I just don't like Altmers. They treat Dunmer like we're the lowest class of elves. He probably only wanted to make me feel bad for being a this university while uplifting his own intelligence. Gods I hate them both.

Our instructor went on with the class, pulling out a knife and a soul gem. I kept my head put in my book, reading something about how the Mythic Dawn used forbidden magic to summon all the Daedra into our realm. I wanted to know why it happened, and how they did it. Just in case I ever needed to reverse the process. "What spell do we use to trap souls in gems?"

My hand darted up from the book and I answered before I could stop myself. "Soul Trap. It's a Mysticism spell." I snapped my eyes shut and pulled my arm back down as quickly as I could. I silently cursed at myself for speaking out of turn like that. Of course, _everyone_ knew that! The answer was in the question. Now everyone is going to think I'm some opportunist idiot that is looking to hog all the spotlight!

"Very good….Davilia, right?" She said to me, looking at her name roster. Oh great, now everyone knows my name. How can this day get any worse?

"So, your name is Davilia?" Erandur directed his whispered question to me, making me smack my head into my book. Oh great, now he knows my name!

I sat there as quietly as I could while the instructor started explaining the process for using normal soul gems. I knew all about this subject. My mother always forced me into becoming an enchanter. It was because of enchanters that mages get paid for their services. Mom wanted me to learn enchanting so that I could profit from it later in life, so that I could afford more slaves for our Dres family partners back in Morrowind. I never wanted to go home. I sat there and listened to the teacher while she talked about sealing souls into soul gems. And then she told us that…we weren't going to do that at all, but an older method only used by battlemages nowadays. And then my heart sank. I was so familiar with enchanting by using soul gems that I didn't know any other ways. And…hearing that we were using a different method scared me. I wasn't ready for this! I needed to read a couple books about it; get familiar with it first!

"But ma'am…" Erandur said from my right. "if we're not using soul gems…the only source for enchanting weapons…what are we using?"

Our instructor smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "Good question. The knife that was given to you is your passing grade for this course. For the non-battlemages; soul trapping creatures that I summon and using the soul gem to enchant their knife is their passing grade for the course. All you battlemage trainees are magicka-weaving your weapons to make them enchanted. Once you do that, you pass my course and you don't have to step foot in this class room ever again. Of course, the spell that you're weaving is up to me."

"Not using soul gems?" I found myself saying as I collapsed my head into my arms and let out a quiet sob. I placed my book down, trying to think of any other way possible to enchant weapons without soul gems. My mom never told me anything. So, it was true then. This was a technique knew only by the Imperial battlemages. I quickly pulled out my book about enchanting and started flipping through all the pages I could, trying to find this term 'magicka-weaving'. I didn't find it anywhere in my book at all. "My book of enchanting says nothing about magicka-weaving. All it talks about is using soul gems."

I looked up at my instructor. She was smiling as she nodded to us. That's when I heard the Khajiit open his mouth. "Actually, I know about energy-weaving." What? He knows about this? How could that be? He was just a Khajiit! And…no…I couldn't think like that. I was about to say that he belonged in the field pulling ash yams for the harvest. This was Cyrodiil, and this was a Cyrodiilian Khajiit, not one of the slaves in Morrowind. I just had to remember that when he talked to me, if he ever talked to me. We shared a smile last class, but that was the extent of the social contact I wanted with him.

"We may be special because of our program we're in, but shouldn't we learn how to use soul gems too?" Erandur asked our teacher.

Before she could answer, I muttered something out that I shouldn't have. "Anyone can use a soul gem." I stated sarcastically to the elf, but when he and the Khajiit turned to look at me, I sunk even further into my seat. And instead of shutting up, like I wanted it, I started stress-talking. "It is a simple process of manipulating the energy within the soul gem into the actual weapon. From there, you will the soul to take a certain form of magicka and according to the strength of the soul; it takes the form of the enchanted weapon." I couldn't shut my mouth but I knew that stepping on my foot would at least take my attention off their gazes. And it worked…and it shut my mouth too.

The Khajiit's face broke into a smile. "You sure do know a lot. I don't think you pulled that from you book." He said it in a knowing way. Oh no…he knew something about me. Was he a slave after all? Did he know my mother? Oh no…I couldn't handle that. But, I couldn't hide from it either.

I tried to sit up as much as I could. "My mother is an enchanter. I've soul-trapped and enchanted weapons before…as her _apprentice_." _Mostly slave bracelets. Please don't hate me for it! _I thought to myself as the Khajiit continued to stare into my eyes. I looked away. I couldn't face them. He knew who I was. He knew what I was.

"So…how does it work?" Erandur asked from the other side of me.

It was such a welcome distraction from the Khajiit that I sat up straighter and turned to answer him. "The Mysticism spell for soul trapping requires that you can feel the creature's soul. Once you can feel and see it, you have to be able to grab onto it. You can only do this for so long before you break your hold on it. So, you have to separate it from the body first. You do that by killing it. From there, you snatch the soul away and put it into the soul gem. If the soul is weak enough to be held in it; it fits and will stay in there. If it is too strong; it will slip away. Part of a soul does nothing."

Erandur smiled and shook his head. Did he think I was wrong? It would figure; his corrective superior attitude was already showing itself. He baited me into a trap, just so that he could push me down and demean me! I swear, this was the last time I fall for one of his traps! "You sure do know your craft." He said with a chuckle. Oh… perhaps he was just astounded that I knew something he didn't. Could that be considered narcissistic too?

"as it makes using soul gems easy." I caught Erandur saying to our instructor as she looked down at our table. I had missed the whole part of the conversation. What happened?

Jurard turned back to look at us. She had just come from one of the nearby tables, explaining to them how to use the already filled soul gems. She nodded to our little table of three and pointed to the knife. Ok, time for her explanation. Just let me get this done with so I can leave these two and never talk to them ever again. "For right now, I want you to focus on your bare energy." Bare energy? What is…bare energy? "The stuff that makes your magicka turn into spells." Oh…ok… "It's the warm flowing feeling in your limbs. I want you to try to refocus that energy into electricity and let it flow into your daggers. I want you to attach your magicka to your weapon. This is an age-old method kept alive by battlemages. This method was used long before we discovered that soul gems could be used for enchanting. We keep it alive because we never know when soul gems are going to disappear again."

I couldn't believe how simple she made it sound. Ok, so I was basically throwing my magicka into the weapon itself, but using mysticism in a way to attach the magicka to the weapon itself. So…how would I do that? I glanced at the other two. The Khajiit and Altmer looked lost so I grabbed the knife first. I wanted out of here, and away from these two. So, I willed my magicka to turn into electricity and I just…slowly and carefully launched it into the knife, willing it to grab onto the knife and hold onto it. And I could feel the magicka grab onto it, and hold on too. I could feel my own energy collect into the knife. It was slowly leaking out; it wouldn't hold for long, but it was inside it. I wonder if I pressed this knife up to someone if the energy would surge out and attack that person. In theory it should, so why not? I waved for our instructor to come over to us, "I think I did it." I called out to her.

It drew her back to our table. She looked impressed at how quickly I did it, but she carefully grabbed onto the knife. Now, hold on." She looked at the weapon and said, "You are close. As it is right now, you have about three uses out of this." She placed the dagger on the table and looked up at me with a wide smile. "That's a great start. I'll rephrase my earlier statement: in order to pass the first part of my class, you need to spell-weave a Lesser Soul Gem's strength soul into your dagger. This is not even petty level. Keep it up."

…

[Veselle]

The light scene faded from my eyes as Davilia took her hand off my head. I was still lost in thought as she smiled at me. "You know, that Altmer…I married him after the Aedra Wars. He thought I died in Kvatch. But I survived…because my friend Primrose healed me. We got separated from our group and I couldn't find Erandur until the war was already over. You may think you don't have any friends right now…but they're around the corner. Just give your master and your new partner time…they'll warm up to you soon enough."

I wanted to call out to her to explain the magicka-weaving process more, but she was already stepping back. "Wait, I need more answers."

She smiled at me just as warmly as her instructor smiled at her. "You know enough. Now…make me proud." She faded away, and I could hear Master Neloth blowing on his tea.

"Blasted tea, I think I scorched my canis root." He grumbled to himself as he picked up the cup. He looked over at me, glaring as usual. "Did you figure it out yet?"

I nodded. "I…I really need to take a nap."

He nodded a reply. "Go ahead, I won't stop you. I'll give you six hours. That will make it…what 11:00 a.m.? Then we'll go on our field trip after you fill your heart stones and I enchant your boots." Oh yeah…I forgot about those boots.

I didn't care. After going through all that, I really needed to just lie down for a couple hours. So, I walked back to my sleeping mat and lied my head back down. Almost as fast as I lied down, I fell asleep. Poor Davilia; to have to grow up in a time where she couldn't look at someone like a Khajiit and not think of them in a way that resembled a slave.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I know a long time ago, back in the Khajiit Battlemage, I covered this very subject. I also know that I stated later on in the Khajiit Battlemage that Davilia possibly had some experience with Khajiit slaves. Remember that chapter? The one where she met her father and Vatu asked her about her opinion about slavery, where she totally avoided the subject and it obviously made her uncomfortable to discuss? Yeah, this is why. I finally shared Davilia's past...five books later (and about 400 years later too). Oh, and next chapter will be out in like six days or something. I just wanted to give you guys a second chapter to enjoy.  
_


	3. Will you make a contract with me?

**Cearbhail**:

__I loved writing this chapter. It has a little bit of everything I enjoy from my combative chapters. Well, it should be good, but I don't have much to say about it other than that I loved it.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 4e 206 22nd Rain's Hand_

_Master Neloth just reprimanded me on not putting the current date on all my entries. 'How will anyone know during what period these entries were made in?' he said to me before throwing it in my face, demanding that I wake up and get ready for the field trip. According to Master Neloth, our history is only correctly stored if we keep account for the period for which the journal existed in. I don't understand it fully, but if I want to become a journal ghost like Master Davilia, I have to do this right. Not entirely sure I want to be imprinted on this book. What will I look like when someone opens the book open? Will I look like I do now, or will I look like some old woman? Davilia looked like a young woman but in her memory, she looked like my age. She probably was at the time. I watched the whole event through her eyes. And she taught me a lot about how things may look but how they truly are. She made friends where she was, it just took some time. I guess it will be the same for me. I just hope it doesn't take too long._

_Ok, so I had to sit down to some heart stones and use the knowledge I learned from Master Davilia's book to fill them with energy. And…something happened. I don't know exactly what it was, but something happened. When I sat down to the heart stone and performed the same pushing feeling I gathered from Master Davilia's book, I felt some pit of fire in my chest expand. It was quiet, like a flame that lied in waiting for fresh air to feed off of. When I called forth my magicka, that fire exploded inside me and next thing I knew, it all flew from inside me and into the heart stone. It was overpowered that some of my energy exploded outside it, throwing me away from the table. And…the table caught on fire. Master Neloth was there to put out the flames with his frost magicka. Jeez…I'm just one giant fire hazard. Perhaps I should just stay outside for now on._

_Anyway, we're preparing for a field trip now, so I have to get packed up._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

"Are you done with your book entry, Apprentice?" Master Neloth asked me as he walked up with my newly enchanted boots. They were dark red boots that matched my equally dark red robes. I could see all the heart stones I had enchanted lining the top of the boots in a decorative pattern. When he handed me the boots, he nodded. "You did a decent job on the heart stones, Apprentice. I could feel the grand soul gem strength enchanting of each and every one of them. I used the energy of the heart stones to enchant the fire protection into your boots. Just like your robes, you should not have any problems from using fire now."

I nodded my thanks to him and took the boots from him. I slipped them on and turned to my backpack. "What should I bring with me?" I asked him.

He crossed his arms. "How about for starters, you don't bring anything other than your staff. You won't need it." He took the backpack from my hands, throwing it over his own shoulder. "If you carry this bag and you decide to let your fire explode like you did today…you won't have a backpack anymore. I will enchant it when we get back, but until then, I will make Talvas carry it." He walked past me and up to the 'levitator' as he called it. He nodded to me as he was lifted off his feet. "Do hurry, Veselle. I wish to begin." Begin what? What were we going to do on this field trip?

I stood up from my little mat, ran over to my staff leaning against the wall, grabbed it, and ran over to the levitator. I looked down at my staff, wondering how I managed to create this. It had heart stones lining near the top and bottom of the staff's frame, with one focusing quartz crystal resting on the top. The staff itself was some type of metal, painted red, much like my robes. In fact, the staff almost matched me perfectly (since my clothes seem to be covered in heart stones too). I had enchanted it to control fire, but I guess the staff worked a little differently. Master told me that the method he had taught me had actually made the staff feed off of my magicka and take the form I needed it to. This staff would do any magicka I wanted it to, but it would feed off of me. I thought the whole point of a staff was so that I didn't have to use my magicka if I didn't feel like it, or if I just ran out. Apparently, this is a _training_ staff. It helps me control and focus my magicka when I want to use it. I don't know what that means, but if it means I don't explode the tower, then I'm ok with it.

I willed the levitator to let me go to the bottom floor and it lifted me off my feet. By now I was getting pretty comfortable with lifted into the air, but I was still grabbing my dress robes to make sure they didn't come up while I was going down. And just like every time, I was worried about nothing. It was like I was standing on the ground while flying downwards. I'm guessing the air in the invisible bubble I was floating in kept my robes just as flat. That's good because I get scared if I feel wind while I'm falling. It's a 30 foot drop. I don't like jumping more than 5 feet, why would I enjoy falling for 30?

I touched gently on the main floor and rushed out the door. I was suddenly welcomed with the bright sunlight that I hadn't seen much since I'd been here. I looked around for Master Neloth. He and Talvas were standing by the triple training circles that Master drew for me. It was my special training area for me to practice my magicka in until I learned how to control it better. I heard a slight boom off to my left. I looked for the source of the noise and found myself staring at Red Mountain. More clouds of ash were flying out of the top. Great…more ash. Like we don't have enough as it was. And just as I thought it, the dark ash clouds rolled over to us. Almost just as quickly as the slowly moving clouds rolled in, the bright sunlight I loved so much vanished and tiny flakes of ash started falling from the sky like tiny clumps of snow.

I groaned, brushed the ash off my hair, and threw my hood up. I jogged to catch up to the two as they waited for me by the training circles. When I did approach them, Master Neloth was busy rubbing his chin in thought. "Hmm…it seems that I created a training circle for Veselle. Do you feel that pressure?" He looked at Talvas.

"You mean the amount of energy that lingers inside here?" I stopped and hid myself behind a bush. Were they talking about me? Would it be rude of me to just run up and bother them, or would me hiding behind a bush be even ruder? I didn't know, but it was the first time I heard Master and Talvas talk…and it was about me. I was a little curious. Talvas looked back at the training circles. "You can taste the fumes that burned inside here. It's thick, much thicker than anything I've ever felt."

"She is dangerous." Master Neloth said with a nod. "I do wish I could have remembered seeing this. The residual scaring of the wards go up 40 feet up the interior ward. For someone, some…mere apprentice, is astonishing." He looked over at Talvas. "I'm expecting you to take good care of her, Apprentice Talvas. She is your roommate until her room is grown."

Talvas only groaned. "But Master…a teenage boy and a teenage girl…" He gestured to Master Neloth. "You don't know what I'll do to her."

Neloth only smirked and gestured to the ground. "Just remember what she did here and I'm sure you don't try anything stupid."

Talvas swallowed hard and his eyes went wide. "You're…you're serious, aren't you? You're making her my roommate!"

Neloth nodded. "I'm not worried about the two of you sleeping in the same room, but she can't sleep up in the tower every night. The tower was not made to be someone's bedroom."

"My room is too small for both of us." Talvas retorted. "It's just big enough for me to sleep and study in. It can't hold two people."

Neloth nodded. "I suppose that is true. But then…where do we put her until her room is ready?"

I stood up from my bush. "Ok, I'm ready." I called out as I ran up to them. They both looked from each other to me. I stopped and looked at them. "What were you talking about?"

Neloth smirked. "We saw you coming hiding behind the bush, apprentice. Do not worry; you'll stay in the tower with me until your room is built. However, we were serious about the strength of your magicka. You have an overabundance of magicka reserve. It's almost impossible for you to run out of magicka. That is something only master wizards like myself have, and you have almost as much as magicka as I do, it seems, if not more. You are dangerous, in many ways. However, I feel that as you progress and become a full Telvanni mage that you'll only grow more powerful. What you will do with that power, I hope is responsible. When you fully develop your power, even I will not be able to stop you if you go bad." He glared at me. "Perhaps I should kill you now so that you will not pose a threat in the future." He looked so serious that I thought about running away. But, I knew it wouldn't do me any good. He'd still catch me and kill me.

So, instead, I tossed the staff out of my hands to his feet. "And if I just quit?" I couldn't believe I just said that to him. My face was burning red with both embarrassment, shame, and anticipated punishment. I couldn't take my eyes off his. Oh no…I was glaring at my Master. He was going to punish me so badly after this.

Instead of a lecture or a glare, I received a cold smile. Ok…I guess that's better than a sneer, or a smirk. He started chuckling as he picked up my staff, handing it back to me. "That's the spirit of a true Telvanni mage. Say you'll quit but that look in your eyes tells me differently. You have potential, Veselle…and if you leave now you'll only be more of a threat. Those robes won't exist forever, and with your abilities of enchanting, you'll only create robes that last a few weeks at most. You'll eventually lose your amulet and burn down an entire town. People will hunt the witch that only brings death and pain. That will be you someday, if you do not first learn to control it first. You will stay." He said as a finality as he turned to Talvas. "She is your underclassman, so it is your job to guide her through her studies until she is as good as you. Considering her ability to learn pretty quickly, I give it three days max."

Talvas only scoffed. "Always the kidder, Master." When Master Neloth just looked at him before turning to leave Talvas looked less certain. "Wait…Master. That was a joke, right? Master!" He cried to him as he chased to catch up to Master Neloth.

Master Neloth looked back at me and then at Talvas. "Come you two, we need to collect some ash."

"What are we doing today, sir?" Talvas asked.

"I just told you, we're collecting ash. Not just any ash, but ash from ash spawns. I need five different samples of ash spawn ash. I want to see if I can use the heart stones to create my own ash spawn. It would help to have my own guards protect my tower when more ash spawn come to attack it." He said to us. "And I have just the place to find them. Some old fort just to the west of us seems to have a vast collection of them."

We traveled in silence for a while. Master Neloth led us through the ankle deep ash to the fort. More ash fell down from the sky and it hated it. I wanted nothing more than to go back to Riften and lie down in the leaves outside town. I'm still not used to eating ash yams. It about all we can grow here in Solstiem, I hear. Even snowberries die off in the ash. In order to get more, we have to travel up north to the snowfields where snowberries grow. Good thing I know what they look like. They make some nice jam for us to eat on our bread. As for meat, I think we've been eating ash hoppers with our ash yams. Ash, ash, ash. I'm so sick of ash.

"Be on your guard now, children. We're here." Master Neloth called to us.

I paused before I crashed into Talvas, who only crossed his arms. "Sir, I'll be turning 16 in two months. I'm no child."

He smirked at the comment. "Live for 500 years and then talk to me about what constitutes as a child. Not saying I've lived so long, but some of our greatest masters have. I'm nearing 63 now, so even still you are a child." He reached for the four staves resting on a staff carrier on his back. "Ready your staves, children. I expect a war."

The ash below my legs started blowing across the silent wind as we stood at the entrance to the old fort. Somewhere in the ash, I could hear voices whispering to me. I couldn't tell what they were saying, it sounded like some foreign language I didn't understand, and I could just barely hear it over the silent wind. I looked down at the ash. It was rolling; collecting into a ball. I stepped back, almost crying out in surprise or horror as a head and two red glowing eyes poked out of the ash. Just as quickly a hand shot out of the ash, grabbing on the ground as the thing pulled itself onto the ground. It grabbed onto my leg, tightened its grip, and pulled on me as it pulled itself out of the ash. At that time…I did scream out loud.

I was enough to call Master Neloth's attention. He spun to face me, stuck out his hand, and there was a feeling of the hand flying of my leg into pure ash again. The hand started forming on the already collecting ash and the thing reached out for my leg again. I jogged back as much as I could and the hand missed my leg as it reached out to snatch me again. Talvas stepped up to blast the thing, but Master Neloth stopped him by throwing his arm in front of him before he could do something. "Let it form to enough to where I can see the heart stone. All my research depends on the heart stone."

As I jumped back, I heard more ash whirring around me. More heads and hands started forming in the ash, all circling around me. Red eyes glowed in the ash as the heads poked out, their hands clawing at the ground as they pulled themselves together. I looked up at Master Neloth, who only smiled as he looked around, nodding in appreciation. I counted more than ten ash spawn pulling themselves out of the ash all around me. _We're under attack. All soldiers to the frontlines. Draw back the invaders._ I heard someone calling through the air. I don't think Talvas or Master Neloth heard it. They didn't exactly respond to the voice.

But I heard all the explosions around them. Talvas cursed and dove for cover, while Master Neloth threw up a protective ward shield. He looked away from me to the entrance. "We have more ash spawn advancing. I was right; it's an army. We should exterminate them before they come to the tower. Now is our chance." He charged right into the courtyard, leaving Talvas and me alone with the forming ash spawn.

Talvas looked from me to Master Neloth. "Master!"

"Hurry, Talvas. We need to get to the bottom of this." Master called from the entrance to the fort. I could see the remnants of ash spawn he had trampled through.

"But…Veselle…" He started to say. The first ash spawn pulled itself out of the ground and stuck out its hand. I could see the glowing black and red stone lodged deep in its chest. A giant sword formed in its hand and it charged up to me, slashing at me. I brought my staff up to protect me and I felt the sigils on it glow with my power. Just as suddenly as the ash spawn attacked me, I saw a brilliant flame burst from the tip of my staff. The flames engulfed the ash spawn, melting the ash-formed monster. The heart stone fell from the chest, and the rest of the monster faded away with it.

"She can handle herself." Master called to Talvas. "I however need you to handle the prison. There are hundreds inside this main fort that require my immediate attention." Master turned to look at me. "Good luck, Veselle. Hopefully you're still alive when I return." With that he vanished inside the fort.

Talvas only scoffed and turned to look at me. "Want me to help you?"

I looked from the melted one ash spawn to the nine others climbing out of the ground. "Yes?"

He nodded and walked up to me. He brought his fists up to defend his face. He placed his back to mine. "You defend your side, I'll defend mine. Ok? By the way, sorry about last night. I just hate sharing that small space with someone else."

"I get it. I didn't really want to be in there either. I thought it would be too uncomfortable with both of us." I said back to him, keeping my eyes on the rising ash spawn. "Did…did Master ever force you to do stuff like this before you were ready?"

"No." Talvas said. "He kept me inside the practice circle all my first week. I only needed one, though. The one that kept harmful things outside. But then again, we didn't really have ash spawn attacking us either. These just started up about five months ago. And the town has asked Master Neloth to find the source of the ash spawn and get rid of them. So, he's been doing everything he can do to find out who's summoning them, or how they're forming. That's why he's so busy with his research on ash and heart stones. He's stuck in a loop of information. The heart stones bring ash spawn to life, but they seem to have a collective thought, a hive mind. Master Neloth can't figure out what the hive mind is or what's controlling it."

The first three of the ash spawn near me had finally taken full form. I could see more heart stones sitting in their chests. _Attack intruders._ I heard one say as it reached into the ash and pulled out a long sword out of it. _Kill all who interrupt experiment._ Another said. _Revenge!_ The third said. "I can hear voices in the ash." I said to him. "I think these heart stones have something to do with it."

"You should tell Master that. I'm sure he'd love you to death if you figured out what he's missing in his research." He responded. He started warming up his hands with what looked like frost magicka. "By the way, I know you're working with just flames right now, but…frost magic works a lot better than fire on these things. Fire does almost nothing to them, and for Master to leave you alone like this…he must really believe in you."

"Or just want me dead." I mumbled under my breath. The first ash spawn charged up to me, slashing at me. I raised my staff to catch the blow. The sword caught my staff with such force that I was thrown right off my feet and into the ash. When I looked down, I could see that arms had reached out and pulled me down. The ash on the ground actually started wrapping around my body, pulling me flat to the ground. My chest was wrapped under the ash and I could see the spawn raising is sword to kill me. "Um…Talvas?" I called to him. "Help!" Just as the ash spawn prepared to stab me a giant icicle slammed into the thing's chest. The icicle flew through the ash spawn and the body fell to pieces. I could see the heart stone encased in the icicle lodged in the ground not too far from us. The ash wrapping around me relinquished any hold it had on me and I jumped up to my feet as fast as I could. "Thanks." I turned to look at him.

"No problem." He called back. "By the way, the best way to kill an ash spawn is to just take the heart stone out of it. The thing just falls apart. Not sure what you can do with that knowledge, but good luck nonetheless." He turned back to his several ash spawn. I watched as he danced across them, his hands glowing with frost. He launched his hand out, touching the chest of an attacking spawn. Ice formed at the touch of the spawn and the heart stone froze on impact. The body fell to ashes as the block of ice heart stone fell to the ground. Ok, so that's how it works then. Ok, maybe I can do something then. Oh…I got it.

I turned to face the three spawn coming at me. I smiled because I knew martial arts. Karliah was nice to me and told me that a nice girl like myself growing up in Riften would eventually be raped or mugged. So she taught me to drop even the strongest opponents. Mjoll helped with the lessons. So, I'm pretty good at fighting, even without fighting. I'm not good with a sword or anything, but…a bo staff…that's different. And my staff was nothing more than an enchanted bo staff with a spear tip…well crystal tip. I just hope I didn't break it. Enchanted staffs aren't supposed to break so…I hope not.

As the first spawn attacked me, I spun my staff. I caught the attack with a counter-attack, which threw the spawn off balance. I back-spun the staff, slammed him in the arm, tore through it, and then backed off. The spawn's arm fell to ashes, but it started regenerating. I was quick as I jumped in, flicked my staff at the chest, contacted with the heart stone, and sent it flying through the air as it flew through the spawn's chest. I jumped back right as the spawn fell to its death. Well…that happened. Now, I only had six more to deal with. I ran up to the next one, but he wasn't coming at me with a sword. No, he just stuck out his hand and blasted some sort of ash magic at me. The ball of exploding ash hit me right in the stomach. It was enough to throw me back. At the same time I buckled over from the hit, a giant whip of ash came up flicking the staff from my hands.

I looked over my shoulder to find my staff, but instead of finding it, I only felt a massive hot pain overflow my body. It felt like burning sand slamming me in the face. I stuck my hand out to protect me. I couldn't see what was going on, but I felt for any heart stone I could find. And I found it. I grabbed it and pulled as hard as I could at it. The hot burning sand feeling faded away, and I only felt soft ash fall down on top of me. I fought to push myself out of the ash, coughing up some as I did so. Talvas was in front of me, two hands freezing two spawn getting ready to kill me. Both bodies and weapons fell to pieces on top of me, just adding the amount of ash covering me. Did I mention that I'm sick of all the ash? Yeah, this is not helping.

Talvas scanned the area and then nodded. He turned around and stuck his hand for me to take. "We're clear. That was the last of them." I took his hand and he pulled me out of the ash. "You look horrible."

"I need a bath." I said to him. He helped me brush off all the ash as we waited for Master Neloth to come out of the main fort.

"I should go clear out the prison before Master yells at me for staying out here to protect you." He nodded to me and took off for the prison. I looked for my staff and found it lying near a pile of ash with a frozen heart stone inside it. When I reached down to take the staff, I heard a loud wail in the wind. _Full charge, attack. Defend the main tower!_ It scared me to hear that in my ear so far from the fort. When I grabbed the staff, it fed off my fear, I think. The ice covering the heart stone started melting to the heat my staff was producing. When I looked down at the melting ice, the heart stone started glowing. The ash started collecting and I thought that my life was over. The ash stated spinning around and it wasn't forming into some spawn, but as something else. The ash flew into the air, forming big rocks. A face formed in the ash with a body that seemed to be made out of ash that spun around the air. The heart stone spun around the middle of the ash. I reached for the stone to get rid of whatever this was before it became any worse. Ash collected around the heart stone, collecting it inside a rock made of ash. Oh great…now what?

And that's when a bunch of flying ash hardened into a fist that smashed me in the face. It hit me so hard that my vision blacked out. Next thing I knew, I was lying several feet away and dazed. I tried to stand up, but as I looked at the monster, it raised its whirlwind arms and then launched them at me. I could see all the ash in front of it lift off the ground and fly at me. I quickly scrambled to roll to my feet and away from it. I got away just in time to feel the ground behind me explode into a wave of ash. When I rolled to my knees, I looked back at the hole I was lying in. It was covered in shards of rocks that were dissolving into ash. Ok…not going to lie. I'm scared to death of this thing.

I reached for my staff. My trembling fingers found the staff just fine, and picked it up. But standing up was something else. My stomach, my throat, my head were all spinning and scrunching up on me. I felt like I was going to vomit out of pure fear. I never thought I'd see something as horrible as this thing ever since Mehrunes Maven. But… that's the thing, isn't it? These things exist and people have to fight them every day. And Master Neloth voluntarily fought this stuff all the time. And he did it with a nonchalant look on his face. Just what had he fought in the past that made him so indifferent to this stuff? I don't think I could ever face something like this.

_Make a contract with me!_ I heard in the back of my head. "What?" I actually called out loud. The ash thingy was warming up another blast so I pushed off the ground right as a wave of ash spines flew around me. I brought my hands up as the ash thingy sprayed more and more ash stuff at me. I felt a couple spines tear through my robes, hitting me a few times. Crap! I just got these robes and they were already falling apart on me. _You heard me! Make a contract with me! I can't help you from Aetherius without your permission!_

"Um…ok." I called to the sky. "Whatever you say."

_Here are the terms and conditions. I'm a kyuubi; a fox spirit with nine tails. I'm not that strong of a spirit but I'm eager to be bound to your service and to grow off of your magicka, as all bound spiritual creatures do. The Aedra seem to think I can help you so…there it is. I'm available whenever you need me, and I can use every element designed by the gods. Ok?_ I could hear the voice in my head. "Ok, whatever. I accept the terms and conditions. Just come here and help me." There was a long pause before I heard some squeaking. _Um…I can't summon myself, you know. You have to do it._ "How?" I called to the wind. I jumped out of the way as another round of sharp ash flew past me. _You know…Conjuration magic, duh…_ "I don't know Conjuration magic." I screamed to the sky. _Oh…_ I could hear the disappointment from the sky. _Good luck then._

I was so distracted that the ash storm slammed into me and I was thrown off my feet. I cried out in pain as I felt several spines lodged in my arms and legs. My robes were almost completely torn to shreds. I struggled to keep the robes attached to my body as I struggled to sit up. The spines in my arms and legs kept me locked to the ground. It hurt too much to move. I had no choice. Better learn on the fly. Ok…I did this before. How did I do it? I managed to summon a Vermeister once and he saved my life. How was I going to do this? I closed my eyes and searched for something I could do. "I call upon you from the heavens to the mortal plane. I summon thee, kyuubi!"

And…nothing happened. I cried to myself as I struggled to sit up. _You can't just call me, Veselle. You need to form Conjuration magic._ "How?" I asked the sky. _Um…I've never been contracted or bound before. So…I think it's like vroom vroom type magic, you know?_ "No…not really." I said in return. _Vroom vroom magic. Um…how do I phrase this? Imagine your soul connecting to my soul. And now, imagine that line stretching from you to me. Imagine the intention of summoning me in the palm of your hand. It's pure magicka, but it takes the form of portal magic. It's all about intention. You want me there, you need me there. So you bring me there. We're bound now, we share energy. Your magicka is now my magicka. And you summon me by willing me to come. Your magicka will take care of the rest. Ok? See…vroom vroom._

So, I started gathering my magicka into my hand. I remembered how it felt from when I witnessed Davilia's magical training. I felt the whirling energy in my hand and I willed the kyuubi to come to my aid. The magicka in my hand turned from clear-ish to pure white and blue. When I released the ball of energy, it expanded into a portal. And out jumped a little white fox spirit with nine tails. Light blue runes ran across its fur, and the fox was about the size of a large cat. The kyuubi looked at me and smiled with blue glowing eyes. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kyuu. It's short for Kyuute. That was the first name ever given to me by some girl that summoned me by accident one day. Oh…I guess I _have_ been contracted before. I just didn't do anything important."

"Introductions later." I said to Kyuu. "Please, get rid of that thing."

Kyuu looked from me over to the ash thingy. "An Ash Guardian?" Kyuu asked. "I can't fight that thing. I'm a novice summoned creature. I'm not strong enough to fight that thing yet. But I can do this…" He walked up to me, stepping up to my chest. "Heal beam!" A giant white light fell from the sky on top of us. The ash shards turned to dust and my wounds started to close. More than just that but my robes started to regenerate too. When the light faded, Kyuu smiled. "See, all better."

The ash guardian raised its whirlwinds as it prepared to attack me. I rolled Kyuu into my arms and pushed off the ground. "We're not safe yet." The ground behind me erupted into an ash spray. The ash guardian rolled his attack with me and the ash spray threatened to overwhelm me again. I looked around for my staff, but I couldn't find it. As the ash spray fell around us, Kyuu's ears shot straight up. "Protection Ward Spell." Kyuu cried out. A giant shield formed in front of us and took the brunt of the attack of the ash spray. The ward dropped when the spray ended and Kyuu looked up at me. "Don't worry, I know Warding magic at least. As you grow stronger in in magicka so will I. You have a lot of reserve, but it's knowledge and control that I need to grow stronger than this." He smiled. "I can't wait to become stronger like my parents."

"You won't get the chance to grow stronger if I die." I said as I looked down at him. "We need to beat this thing. We can do it."

He looked up at me with uncertain eyes. "Umm…ok, but I'm still new to this. What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, I'm new to this too." I said to Kyuu. As the ash guardian warmed up another ash spray, I looked down at him. "Another ward, hurry!"

"Right away!" He said as his ears flicked upward. His eyes grew even brighter blue and a giant shield formed in front of us. The shield took the ash spray just like the last one, but this time Kyuu cried out. "I can't keep this up forever!" He said to me. "I don't have much magicka, and I used a lot of it healing your body…and clothes."

I looked around for my staff, and found it lying in the sand behind the advancing ash guardian. "Ok…I have a plan. I'm going to drop you and you will get my staff. I'll keep the thing's attention on me and then you just have to bring my staff over to me. Ok?"

He looked up at me. "I'm going to miss you. You were my only friend in a hundred years. Oh well." He jumped from my arms and took off for the staff. "If I get hit too hard I will die, you know that, right? And then you'll have to wait until my wounds heal before I can come back. And it takes a few minutes. In that time frame, you'd be dead." He said as he dodged the ash guardian as it took a swipe at him. The ash guardian was turning to swipe at Kyuu again.

I plucked the necklace on my neck and tossed it away from me. Just as quickly as I did that, my body lit up on fire. The area around me lit up just as quickly. And that drew the ash guardian's attention. It looked over at me with two glowing red eyes. It raised its hands to me and unleashed what it had at me. I screamed out in fear and willed the fire to protect me. A wall of fire built up in front of me, taking the ash spray. I could see a visible line where the fire pushed against the ash and managed to protect me from the guardian's wrath.

"Got it!" Kyuu called. He wrapped a tail around my staff, and flicked it out of the ash over to me with surprising strength. I caught it as it flew over to me and began willing my fire into it. "I can feel your control brewing." Kyuu called. "And I feel it flowing through me. The element of fire has been added to my spell collection." Small blue flames lit up around his nine tails and he pushed off the ground with the grace you'd expect from an angelic fox. He spun around several times, covering himself in fire. He landed right on top of the ash guardian's head and started breathing fire down on it. A rock formed in the mist of ash and slammed into Kyuu. He cried out in alarm as he flew through the air and crashed into one of the walls.

"Kyuu!" I called out. I stuck out my staff and willed everything I had to destroy that guardian. And the staff responded. The whole crystal glowed with untapped power and when it released, it roared like a dragon. A massive whirlwind of fire raced from my staff, overwhelming everything in front of me. The sheer force of it pushed me back and I found myself barely able to plant my feet as I struggled to stay rooted. The fire died off quickly and I fell to my knees after the effort was done. When the ash settled, I could see a wall of glass. Behind it was the ash guardian. It rolled past the wall of glass and started sailing up to me. Well…this was it then.

The ground shook. I heard and felt the explosion from the fort's main house. The explosion from the fort threw all the ash in the courtyard up into the air. Before the ash guardian could kill me, we were both taken off our…well for me they were feet. But the ash guardian, I'm guessing he just joined the ash. I flew through the air landing in the sand near the ocean. When I tried to stand up, I could see the guardian already putting itself back together. When it turned to face me, bright green lines flew out of the ground and wrapped around it. A giant white circle encased it and it trashed against the sudden ward. It didn't get him anywhere though.

"Don't worry, Apprentice." Master Neloth called from the courtyard entrance. "He can't hurt you." He walked up to us, looking at it. "What is this…thing?" He asked me. "Believe it was called an 'ash guardian'?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It formed from a heart stone and started attacking me."

"Good, more diverse test subjects." He said to me. He patted me on my shoulder, actually smiling. "I kept an illusionary eye watching you during your fight. You did very well. And contracting your first ethereal ally. Not bad for your third day." He stopped to look at the trapped ash guardian. "You grab Talvas and head back to the tower. You did well today. Take the rest of the day off and have some sujamma milk."

"Master, I'm underage." I responded.

"You deserve it nonetheless." He said in return. "Collect the heart stones you collected from the ash spawn with Talvas and some ash from them as well. I'll look at it once we get back. Ok?"

I nodded and turned to pick up my staff. "Ok, Master. If you're sure."

He nodded. He looked at me and almost smiled. "I'm more sure than ever. You've earned your place. I'll create your room tonight and will be ready for you before you turn in to sleep. We'll set it up with a bed from town tomorrow. You should be proud of your work today. You acted like a true Telvanni mage." That made me smile. I just got a compliment from Master Neloth, although it seems that he purposely hadn't begun building my bedroom and could have done it in a day's time.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so I originally wanted to introduce Kyuute as a hopeless creature in the Daedra realms, being picked on and basically nearly beaten to death by the other Daedra. And then it was supposed to be just 'called' by some conjurer. And next thing Kyuu woke up in a summoning circle with my conjurer character standing over it. Everyone makes fun of her for her pathetic summoning and then they become bound together. but that seems too much like the Familiar of Zero so i decided to go with Madoka Magicka instead. Yes, Madoka Magicka reference. Nice, huh?  
_


	4. Shopping day

**Cearbhail**:

__I'm so glad it's finals week. I only have finals on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, so I have plenty of time to write...(as long as I study enough for the tests). And I have my Japanese test tomorrow, which I know I'm going to rock. Well, either way, I'm glad I got this chapter in. It's not so much about magic this time as it is about Veselle well...you'll see. It's a nice light chapter with no action and just doing stuff that needs to be done for her new room. I liked writing it. It's not much of my cup of tea, though. I don't really enjoy writing these chapters, but it needs to be written, and I did enjoy it more than I enjoyed writing the chapter in Chronicles of Lydia where Lydia spent all day with Cecilie and Ruby while Asger conducted secret meetings with Delphine.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 23rd Rain's Hand_

_I love my new room. It's no bigger than Talvas's room but…it has nothing inside it other than my mat and my pillow. It felt nice to sleep in a room all my own, with no eyes looking down on me. No worries about Talvas returning to find me sleeping in his bed. Now I get my own. Master Neloth is taking me to go shopping for room supplies. I get 500 septims to spend on stuff for my room. He calls it my allowance for all my hard work the past few days. It's a lot to spend, I'll admit, but you'd be surprised how much of it will go towards my own enchanting and alchemy table. I'll be lucky if I can afford my own bed and table afterwards. And there is still today's lesson. I'm learning how to write circles today. I can't wait._

_Ok, so yesterday I experienced my first real fight. Talvas and I mopped the floor with a bunch of ash spawn. Sure, I was pretty useless, but I held my own for a minute. And then Talvas saved my neck right before an ash spawn killed me. Right after we managed to kill them all, Talvas ran off to the fort to help Master kill the remaining ash spawn. And right as he left, I was stuck fighting some spinning ash creature called an ash guardian. And no matter what I did, nothing seemed to affect it. As I was slowly being defeated, a creature from Aetherius called out to me to summon it. It taught me how to use Conjuration magic. And I made my first contract with a kyuubi named Kyuute, or Kyuu for short. He's a little annoying, but he saved me from dying so there's that. I own him for saving my life._

_And I guess that will do for today. I have to go buy stuff and then I have more stuff to do with Master Neloth today._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and sighed. It was so silent. I had one small glowing orb floating on top of my rounded ceiling. It gave off enough light that it lit up my room to where I could read a book comfortably, but to where I could close my eyes and drift off if I wanted too. It had a built-in dimmer too. I really liked it. Master Neloth cast the spell last night when he finished building my room. And he did it right in front of me too. He peeled off a section of his main tower and then stuck in in the ground. And then he used Alteration magic to make it grow. He manipulated the spores with his magic, making it take the shape he wanted to. And then he threw a rod over the hole where the door was going to go sooner or later and then hung a giant cloth over my doorway so that I had some privacy. I got a cold breeze last night and I think I swallowed some ash that flew through the doorway, but other than that the cover worked pretty well.

It was beautiful to see Master Neloth use his magic to create something as beautiful as this room. It's perfect, and it got me a chance to see what I could do with real training in magicka. I couldn't wait to create my own home one day. I think I could get used to living in here while I continued my training. I nodded my head in appreciation as I placed my book on my roll-out matt. I folded my blanket and placed it next to my pillow and looked around my room one last time before I grabbed my staff by the doorway. I paused by the doorway and brushed my hair out of my eyes. It wouldn't stay out of my eyes; I guess my hair needed washed pretty badly. I had too many split ends, so I took a few seconds to pull my hair back into two twintails. My hair was just barely long enough to go past my shoulders, so my twintails were pretty short. I normally would have done a ponytail but for some reason twintails seemed easier today. I paused by the doorway, wishing I had a mirror to see if they were correctly placed. I shrugged it off and started pushing the cloth doorway open. I could see the rising sun through my open doorway, and I could feel the slight cold breeze that brushed my face, although the sun felt so much warmer than the air felt cold. It was the first time I could sleep in until the sun was already up. I closed my 'door' and walked across the yard over to Talvas's room.

I cleared my throat and knocked on his door. I didn't hear a response so I opened the door and peeked inside. Talvas was lying face flat on his bed, snoring lightly, drool rolling down into his pillow. I cleared my throat before I snuck up to his face and screamed, "Good morning!"

Talvas was so quick that I barely had time to react. He pushed himself out of bed and fell right out of his sheets and face first onto the spongy floor. "Shit." He said as he started pushing himself off the floor, rubbing his nose. He gawked up at me like he couldn't believe I was real. "Oh…morning, squirt." He said as he yawned and pushed himself onto his feet. "Why did you do that?"

"We're friends now, right?" I said as I looked up at him. "Aren't I allowed to greet you energetically first thing in the morning?"

His reply was grabbing me by one of my twintails and dragging me to his doorway. "Ow, ow, ow." I said as he almost lifted me up and carried me by my hair to the doorway. When I cleared it, he tossed me gently and then slammed the door behind him, locking it before I could open it. So, I knocked on it again. "Oh, come on! I was joking."

"So was I." He replied back. "I could have done _so much worse_ for that. Oh, and your left pigtail is too far left." I stood by his door for a few seconds longer and I heard him say, "I like my sleep. Please don't interrupt it."

"Ok." I said to his door. "I won't wake you up first thing in the morning." I started undoing my left twintail, and then undid my right one as well. It was a bad idea to do this without a mirror. I collected my hair and pulled it back into a single ponytail. My hair danced on my neck and it bothered me. That's why I wanted twin tails. They rested beside my neck, not behind it. Oh well, I'll just add a mirror to the list of things I needed today. A bed, a table, a mirror, …one enchanting table, and one alchemy table. Not like I wanted those but Master insisted I have them.

"That's not good enough. Don't wake me up, _period_." He shouted through the door.

"Ok, fine." I said snarkily. "I won't wake you up at all." I paused by his door a few seconds longer and then screamed, "And they weren't pigtails, they're _twintails_."

He opened the door and looked down at me. "And the difference is?"

"I'm not six?" Was my reply. "And they aren't braided. Twintails are like ponytails, only on in two not one." I crossed my arms, and flicked my hair around. "And see? Now they're just one ponytail because you said they were uneven."

He smiled briefly before petting me on the head. "Ah, I see the difference now. Keep this up and we'll get along just fine." He walked past me, dressed in similar dark red robes that I was wearing, carrying a staff that looked a lot like mine. He took a deep breath before stretching out his arms. "Ahh…this morning air feels great." He yawned and then started cupping his hands. I could see fire, frost, and lightning crackling around his body. He launched his hands into the air and all three elements roared off his body straight into the sky to disappear into the morning sky. He looked back at me and nodded. "Yup, after you learn all three elements, you'll be expected to greet the morning with a little gift of all three. Oh…that reminds me. You made a contract yesterday, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah…to a small nine-tailed fox. He called himself a kyuubi."

"Hmm…never heard of those. Think you can summon him? I didn't get to see him yesterday." He turned to look at me.

I nodded and closed my eyes. _Hey, Kyuu? Can you hear me?_

_Yeah, I can hear you. What do you need, partner?_

_Mind if I summon you?_

_Hell yeah! I hate being here. I'd rather hang out with you all day!_

I found myself chuckling as I opened my eyes. Talvas was looking at me like I was a weirdo. I found my face blushing over as I felt for the connection between Kyuu and me. When I felt the string that connected us, I willed the energy in my palm to gather into a ball. When it formed, I willed the ball of magicka to bring my partner to me. Then, I let the portal open in my hand. It was quick. The pure clear energy in my hand turned bright white and it expanded big enough for Kyuu to jump through the portal into my chest. When he cleared the portal, I reached out and wrapped him in my arms, where he curled up and relaxed while I carried him. I looked down at Kyuu, and he looked up at me with his bright blue eyes. "Kyuu…this is my training partner, Talvas." I looked up at Talvas. "Talvas, this is my bound ally, Kyuute."

"Cute, huh?" He replied. "Nice name. Definitely speaks volumes about his character. …It is a he, right?"

That was a good question. I looked down at Kyuu and thought I'd just ask it. "Yeah, what gender are you?"

"Gender? What's that?" Kyuu asked with a knowing smile. "I'm a spirit; I don't have a gender. But yeah, I'm totally a boy."

"Are the three of you done wasting time?" Master Neloth asked as he exited the main tower. He looked down at me, then at my summoned spirit, then at Talvas. "Well, well. I see the two of you have overcome your differences. Glad to hear it." He walked up to us, looked down at Kyuu wrapped up in my arms, and then looked up at me. "You went from summoning a Vermeister to a kyuubi? If I may…that is like going from going from summoning a god to a rabbit. Do you understand how weak your new…pet is?"

I looked down at Kyuu, who only whined at me. "I don't like him."

"He grows on you." I said to Kyuu. I hugged him closer to me before saying, "He's mine, and I'm keeping him."

Master Neloth only rolled his eyes. "I don't care. It's good practice on keeping a bound creature in our plane. He draws only a small amount of magicka to summon and barely any on your part to hold him in our plane through the whole day. In fact…that's a good lesson. Any good conjurer should be able to hold a bound creature in our plane while doing other magic. For now on, when you wake up, the first thing you will do is summon your…pet. And hold him in our plane until you go to bed. Is that understood?" He turned to face me.

I nodded to him, hugging Kyuu close to me. "Yes, Master."

Kyuu smiled, rubbing his head on my chest. "Yay!" He squeaked. "I can stay in Mundus."

That caused Master to pause. "You can speak common?" When Kyuu nodded, it made Master rub his chin in thought. "I wish to speak with you while we walk. Mind if we?"

Kyuu shook his head and jumped from my arms onto Master's shoulder. He curled around his neck like he was a scarf and said, "What do you wish to know?"

"Anything you can tell me about Aetherius. The Aedra, major and minor. Everything you can tell me." Master said, and he began leading us down the pathway to Raven Rock. "Come everyone, we have some shopping to do." He looked at Kyuu and started rubbing Kyuu's chin, "Ok, so first question. Why did the Aedra decide to invade during the events of the Aedra War?"

I kinda zoned out for a while as I walked beside Talvas through the worn pathway leading to Raven Rock. Talvas seemed just as interested in Master's conversation with Kyuu as I was. Instead of listening to the two of them talk, he took time to practice summoning lightning in his hands. I watched as lightning would build in one hand and then jump from that hand to the next one. He had such control over his magicka that it looked like he made it dance along his hands, across his fingers, around his arms. He continued to do the same drill over and over again while we continued walking.

I looked down at my hands. Should I be practicing that too? I grabbed the necklace hanging around my neck, making sure it was still there. Master gave it to me so that I wouldn't explode with fire magicka if I got too emotional about something. I almost burnt down his tower once because of it, and every time I got embarrassed or angry I seemed to cause a mushroom cloud of fire magicka. Looking over at Talvas and how he was flicking the stream of lightning he danced around his arm off into the sky, where it turned into a massive beam with a thundering roar, I felt more confident that I wanted to continue learning as much as I could. I wanted to be able to do that one day.

I willed fire to appear in my hand. I felt my hand warm up with energy and I saw a small spark of fire materialize in my hand. That was as far as it got before my entire hand became engulfed in flames. I tried to make it stop but the fire in my hand exploded and roared into the sky. I had to close my eyes it was so bright. I felt someone clamp their hand on my blazing arm and my magicka suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes to see Master Neloth looking back at me. His hands were glowing with some sort of blue cancelling magic, I could tell. He did it once in a while when he wanted me to stop my magicka. "Apprentice Veselle, may I please ask that you reframe from doing that while we're in town?"

I looked around. I didn't know when we got into town, but we seemed to be in the central plaza where everyone did their trading. Everyone in the entire plaza was frozen in spots as they looked at me with wide shocked faces. I pulled my arm out of Master's hand and I bowed to everyone in town. "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm still new to all this."

Someone dressed up in some scary brown armor walked up to Master Neloth. "Lord Neloth, may I ask that next time you bring your students into our town that you keep them on a leash?"

Master turned to look at him. He bowed in respect. "Captain Veleth, how have you been?" Master looked down at me, placing his hand on top of my head. "And this is my newest student, Veselle Tenvanni. She's still trying to control her magicka. And she'll be extra careful while in town for now on…" He looked down at me, squeezing my head a bit. "Isn't that right, Apprentice?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. I promise to be extra careful."

Master nodded and released my head. "There you have it, Captain. She'll be on her best behavior. We're just in town for supplies. I'm sure you understand how it can be when you have new people to care for."

Captain Veleth nodded. "I understand all too well. So, what are you looking for specifically?"

"A bed for the small one. A large studying desk too; one big enough to hold a small library of books and papers in an organized fashion. I also need one small dresser, big enough for six complete outfits. I also need the following: two small coffee tables; one of which I can turn into an arcane enchanter, and the other one an alchemy laboratory. I will need the necessary supplies to make those. The supplies are as follows: for the alchemy table, I need an inner cauldron; you know the one I speak of. I also need a small calcinator, a small mortar and pestle, and an alembic. That's just for the table. For the arcane enchanter, I will need ten white candles and one crystal ball. And a skull…I need a skull." Master said to Veleth all in one breath, like he had the whole thing planned out already.

"Master?" I pulled on his sleeve and it caught his attention. "I was hoping to get a mirror too."

He arched his eyebrows. "We'll make one out of an Illusion spell. To get an actual mirror is dangerous. Things can travel through mirrors, but Illusion spells…not so much." He nodded his head to Captain Veleth. "Where should I begin my search?"

"How much are you willing to spend?" He asked.

"500 septims." Master replied.

Captain nodded his head. "For a cheap bed, I suggest Fethis Alor. He's pretty much the man who has everything around here, and if he doesn't have it, he can get it. Since he is about the only convenience trader around, he might be pricey, though. But if you're just looking for anyone willing to part with some stuff for your new student, I'm sure anyone here will sell you their stuff for probably a smaller price. Might actually help some people in town who have too much stuff. Try the Severins. They have a large house and a girl that's just a little older than your student. They might be willing to part with some of their older stuff."

Master nodded to the captain and looked down at me. "We'll start with Fethis and see if he has all that we need." I nodded to him and followed Master as he walked over to an older Dunmer who was busy pulling an ash yam out of the ground. He brushed off the ash and then looked up at us.

Fethis nodded a welcome to us and stood up, brushing off his knees with his free hand. "Welcome, Lord Neloth. What can I for you?"\ Master repeated the list he had breathed out in one go to Captain Veleth. Fethis stood there processing the whole list while it was spoken to him. When Master was done with his list, Fethis rubbed his sweaty forehead. "I have the candles. With how often you come here, I always have them in stock. I have a dresser too, and one table. But a bed? No, I don't have that. I do have a mattress, though. Not the frame." He shook his head. "I have a mortar and a pestle around here, and a calcinator. No alembic, though. And I don't have a skull for the arcane enchanter, but I do have the crystal ball."

Master nodded. "I can make due with those. What about the large desk?"

He shook his head. "I don't have one."

Master nodded again. "We'll make due for now. She's not ready for complex notes anyway. Go ahead and order the rest of the stuff and I'll be back in a month to pick it up. I want the other table, the large desk, the alembic, the inner cauldron for the alchemy table, and a proper bed frame. Ok?"

Fethis nodded. "Ok, sir. Is that all you need?" When he nodded, Fethis started doing the math on a piece of paper. "Ten white candles, two gold a piece comes to 20 septims. One small dresser, 30 septims. That's 50 together. One coffee table, 20 septims. 70, so far. One mattress, 25 septims. 95 septims. Mortar and pestle, 5 septims. 100 septims. One calcinator, 10 septims, and one crystal ball, 10 septims. Ok, all total is 120 septims."

Master nodded. "That's what I like about you. Your prices are fair enough." He handed Fethis the small bag of septims and then looked down at me. He handed me the rest of the bag, saying, "Remember, this is _your_ allowance. You can spend the rest doing whatever you want. Even buy that mirror you wanted. You may wish to invest in some actual clothes. If I recall you came here with one pair of clothes and they're pajamas."

I looked down at my robes. "Master, don't I have to wear these?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Only during training, and if you never change your clothes those robes will stink to high Aetherius." He turned his attention to Fethis, who was busy gathering up his supplies. "Go have some fun and buy whatever you want. Come back here when you're done and we'll take all this back to the Tel Mithryn. Talvas, you may do whatever you want."

Talvas nodded to Master and then looked over at me. "Mind if come with you?"

I shrugged. I looked at Kyuu, who was napping on Master's neck. His ears perked up and then he looked over at me. He hopped off of Master's shoulders, landing on mine. He felt so light that it didn't bother me to have him up there. He settled down, wrapping around my neck, his head hanging down on my left shoulder and his tail flopping down over my right. "I'm just going to rest for a bit. I'm not used to the strain of staying out in Mundus for this long."

"I thought you were living off my energy!" I said to him.

He nodded. "You don't have much control over your energy so it fluctuates and I'm left filling the reserve when it does. I'm able to feed off of your excessive energy when you overcompensate too to refill my reserves. I'm ok; you're just not pushing nearly as hard as you were on the way down."

Talvas scratched his chin, something I saw Master do a lot. I wondered how long until I started scratching my chin like that when I started thinking. It looked weird and it wasn't a habit I wanted to get used to doing. So, I grabbed Talvas by his arm and started pulling him to follow me. "Come on, let's go shopping."

Fethis looked over at me. "Good luck. I'm pretty much the only merchant in town."

That caused me to pause and turn to face him. "Do you have girls' clothes and a mirror?"

Fethis paused and scratched the back of his head. "I do have a mirror, but no clothes, sorry. Just traditional Dunmer clothes. Much like what everyone else is wearing around town. They come in three colors; red, blue, and yellow."

"I'll take two of each?" I asked him.

He nodded and started looking me over. "You look like a size small, medium. But you'll start growing taller soon, so how about I give you one set of each color in small, medium, and one set in medium, long?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

He started processing my clothes and brought my mirror. It was one of those smaller mirrors that you put on your dresser, the one that could be rotated up and down to your height. When Fethis came back out with my clothes, he nodded. "Ok, so that will be 5 septims for the mirror, and six outfits, 10 septims a piece, 60 more septims. 65 altogether. Ok?"

I nodded and started counting out my septims. I pulled out a 50 piece, one 10, and one 5. I handed him the coins and he gently handed me the clothes. "There you go. I think you have pretty much all you need."

I looked at my clothes. I think I liked the blue outfit the most, and I was just plain sick of wearing red. The yellow looked bright, so I probably shouldn't wear it so much. Ok, so I was going to probably wear the blue one tonight. My stomach reminded me that I was hungry. I looked around for something else and I could see the marketplace had a farmer selling things. He had food. I placed my clothes down with the rest of the stuff we were taking and I ran over to the farmer. Talvas kept up behind me.

The farmer greeted me as I came up. "Welcome. May I interest you in some ash yams?"

My stomach turned over at the thought of eating another one of those. "No!" I said to him. "I'm sick of ash yams. What else do you have?"

He looked at me before looking at Talvas. He shrugged. "Well, I can only grow ash yams, but I do import goods from Morrowind and Skyrim. What are you looking for?"

"Bread, honey, apples, maybe a gallon of cider, or snowberries. Any seeds?" I asked him.

He smiled. "Planning on growing something?"

I nodded. "Yes. If you have snowberries, I want to plant them and grow my own snowberries. I doubt I have the time it would take or space to grow an apple tree."

The farmer nodded. "A mage like you could just as easily grow an apple tree in our land. So, I have a few apples, grapes, snowberries, and juniper berries. I'm sure you can grow your own little garden to give you something to add to your ash yams."

The very thought made me smile. "And I can come here and buy bread and honey?"

He nodded. "I will make certain to have some in stock for you when you come in."

I jumped with joy, saying, "Ok, I'll take a gallon of cider, six apples, a pound of grapes, a pound of snowberries, and a pound of juniper berries. Oh, and I want a gallon of honey, and two loafs of bread."

He stared at me for a second before nodding. "Ok. That's a lot of honey though."

I nodded. "Honey doesn't go bad; it's the only substance that never goes stale or rotten. Jars of honey found in Dwemer ruins were still good and edible. So, I know that getting a gallon of it will not lead to a waste of honey, only the opportunity to have it around for a much longer time. And I _love_ honey."

The farmer nodded. "Ok, I'm just going to snowball the price and say an even 60 septims. 20 septims for the honey, 30 for the grapes, apples, snowberries and juniper berries. And finally, 10 for the loaves of bread and the gallon of cider."

I pulled out the necessary funds for my food and turned to face Talvas. "Mind helping me carry all of this?"

He pulled off the backpack he carried for me and opened it up. "Ok, stuff it in. Start with the gallon of cider and honey. And then the berries and apples, and then the bread." We loaded up the food and the backpack could barely hold it all, but we got it all to fit but two apples. I took one and took a bite of it, tossing the other one to Talvas. He grabbed it as I tossed it to him, looked down at it, and then back up at me. "What's this for?"

"Helping. Besides, we're friends. I shouldn't need a reason to give you an apple." I said to him. I patted Kyuu on the head. "Hey, Kyuu. Ever have an apple before?"

He looked down at the red fruit in my hand. "No…what is it?"

"A fruit. It's a plant that we can eat and it sustains our life for a few hours. It's food." I said to him. I held it up for him to take a bite. "Try it."

Kyuu sniffed it for a second and then started nibbling on the apple. He started with smaller bites, but once I heard him squeak in surprise, he started shoving his face further into the apple until I couldn't see his head anymore. "Oh my Lady Kynareth…" He said screamed in wonder. "what have I been doing with my eternal life?" He jumped from my shoulder, landing on Talvas's backpack. "I want more! Can I have more?"

"Whoa!" Talvas called, spinning around to keep his eyes on Kyuu, which didn't work since Kyuu was digging through Talvas' backpack. "Take it easy, buddy!" He reached back to grab Kyuu. "That's all Veselle's!" When he grabbed Kyuu, Kyuu squirmed but couldn't break free of the hold.

Kyuu looked over at me, smiling and trying to look cute. "You don't mind, right, partner?"

I crossed my arms. "Let's wait until we get back. I want to at least plant a few for my garden. And I have to have Master show me how to use Alteration magic to force them to grow."

Talvas smiled. "Oh, I can show you that. Master keeps telling me that I need to be your mentor when not on official studies. So, after class tonight, I'll help you start your garden."

That brought a smile on my face. "Thanks, Talvas."

He smiled and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me with him. "Come on, we should return to Master Neloth. I bet he's more than ready to return to Tel Mithryn."

"We bought a lot of stuff….how are we going to get it back?" Talvas didn't answer me, but he did smile at the question. I didn't think about how much stuff I was buying, but it was true. I didn't think about just how much I bought today. I bought enough stuff to fill an entire room; enough clothes to last change an outfit every day; and enough food to last an entire month. Were the three of us going to be able to get all this back at all? Oh man…I can't carry all this stuff. If I had thought of that, I would have just bought some essentials and nothing else. The coffee table on its own will be heavy, not to mention my mattress.

When we got back to Master Neloth, he was waiting quietly with his hand crossed. He watched me as I approached. "Are we all set then?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. We're done."

"Good." He replied. He gestured to the backpack. "Put it with the others."

Talvas nodded, placing the backpack with the giant bundle of all my stuff. I looked at all of it. Oh man…I didn't want to carry all this. I didn't even want to help with it at all. Just imagine the hike back to Tel Mithryn while helping Talvas carry a dresser, a table, and a mattress. I didn't even want to think about how much pain it would be to carry something light like my bundle of clothes.

Master Neloth looked at the stuff and warmed up what looked like Conjuration magicka. He launched an orb of the magicka at the pile and a giant portal ripped open. When the portal faded away, all my stuff was gone. Master Neloth clapped his hands off with the ease of what he had just done. "There." He looked at me. "Oh…I didn't explain how this works, did I? We gather everything up and then we teleport it back home. Saves us a hellish journey of having to carry our stuff like commoners." He snapped around, flapping his cape as he did so. "Come now, time to go home."

I held my laugh at the thought that I was so happy that I didn't have to carry all that stuff after all. And I had to learn that spell for later.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, Veselle now has most of what she needs for her room. Soon enough, she'll learn how to make her little room expand...or grow if you prefer that term...her little room into something bigger. Talvas hasn't figured it out yet so I doubt Veselle will. it's a master level Alteration spell after all. And she will begin growing her garden with Talvas's help of course. And you'll see that her storyline follows the quests of the ones in Dragonborn. She is the main character for these quest lines after all. So, expect her to meet a certain somebody soon enough. Not the evil Dragonborn, but one very evil necromage. And I'm not talking about Nrillia. She's dead in this timeline.  
_


	5. Fire Rune

**Cearbhail**:

__Finals are done, and I'm officially out for summer. Well, there is the summer class I'm spending in Japan in July at Shimane University, but that's still a ways away. I plan on doing a lot of writing this summer, so be prepared to see a lot of new chapters. For this story, the closing of Maleek's journey, and anything else I plan on fixing (Cecilie's meloncholy, Khajiit battlemage, and Genis's adventure, as well as a normal day for Presea) They are all getting fixed. I cannot wait to start in earnest.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of shadows, 28th Rain's Hand_

_It's been a while since I've written in you. I've just been busy with Master Neloth is all. As soon as we got back the night we went shopping, we started setting up my new room. Master was surprised when he found out I bought a bunch of fruit with the intention of making a garden. I think he was pleased by my initiative. Because he smiled and said that if I was going to start up a garden, I should plant some canis roots too, and if I helped raise the canis roots into a fine ingredient for his tea, that he'd help teach me how to make the crops grow faster with Alteration magic. I so took him up on the offer. It's been five days and I already have a nice little garden growing between my room and my training circle. Today I get to learn how to draw my own circles. He has several written volumes filled with different circles and which types of magic they need poured into them to make them work, as well as which crystals need to be the writing device._

_So, what I've been working on the past five days. Flames. Flames, flames, and more flames. I've been sitting inside my little protection circle for five days and Master has done nothing but make me cast flames at things he conjures. Sometimes he'll conjure up some sort of impish looking Daedra and tells me to fight it. Sometimes, he'll conjure up two or more creatures and tells me to practice team fighting with Kyuu. Kyuu has not been spared any training either. Master's been making him cast flames and warding spells just as much as he's made me. Oh yeah, I had to learn how to create Wards, as well as healing spells. Soon enough, Master will teach me Regeneration spells for when my clothes get torn up. It apparently fixes the cloths by reconnecting the severed part to each other. And when something gets burned, I guess it somehow creates new atoms that connect to the clothes and it just looks brand new. I don't really know the specifics yet because Master has yet to teach me it, but he said it involves something about realizing what they looked like in the past and then realizing it in the present. It's an Alteration thing, and Alteration magic is only limited to what the imagination can conjure, Master says._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

When I closed my book, I took a quick look around my room. It was just as big as when it started, but it looked so much smaller now. I had a mattress sitting on the floor, and with my roll out mat lying on top of it, it felt really comfortable. My dresser was behind me towards the end of the room. I had all six of my outfits inside it. I switched between the first set every two days. Pretty soon I'm going to have to wash them. Good thing the ocean is nearby. I've been thinking about making a small pond where I could do all my washing, but it would probably just fill up with ash or something.

On top of my dresser was my small mirror that I used to do my hair every morning. I was getting used to having twintails now, and it felt good to have the hair off my neck. I even found a comb inside the tower one day and since Master is bald, I doubt he'd miss it. Unless he uses it for his beard. It does seem really clean and upkept. Opposite of my bed was my little enchanting table. I had to set it up myself. Master told me what I needed to do, and he let me look at his arcane enchanter to do it. I had to create the star pattern and inside each portion of the star pattern inscribe the sigils for the different types of magic that were going to be used. And then I had to fill each sigil with grand soul gem strength magicka. Good thing I had a lot of reserves, because I was able to do it in two days. When each sigil glowed, I knew that part was done. When I got done with each sigil, the lines that made up the star pattern glowed as well, and I just felt this whole…shift in the air around the enchanter. I never knew just how much work went into making an arcane enchanter, but it was worth it. I knew a little more now, and I had the satisfaction of making my own enchanter. I still don't know what the candles are for, but they burn at each tip of the star, even though it's surrounded in a circle as well. They stay lit and they never seem to really burn the wick or the wax. They just…burn.

I rolled off my bed and onto my feet. I stretched my back, let out a small yawn, and started heading to the giant leather flap that consisted as my improvised door. I grabbed my little staff and opened up the flap. Sunlight was barely breaking across the coastline, which meant it was probably 5:30 in the morning. Time to go meet with Master Neloth. I opened up my link to Kyuu and created the portal spell that I was so used to performing that it was becoming second nature to me already. I released the spell and out came my little Kyuu. He leapt from the portal, landing on my shoulder. He curled up around it, and lied down across my neckline.

"Good morning, Veselle." He squeaked to me as a welcome. "Is the apple tree ready yet?"

"Almost." I replied to him. I walked outside with him, looking to the garden growing to the left of it. Growing outside my little round room was my little garden. Well, little is not the word. Substantial is better. I had about ten vines of grapes growing, and with the growing magic Master and Talvas taught me, they were growing quickly. Soon enough, they'd be ready to be eaten. Beside the grapes were the snowberries, as well as the juniper berries. To the very right of my garden were my Master's canis roots. They were already fully grown and had been used several times the past few days. Master grew them so quickly that I almost couldn't believe how fast they developed. It made me jealous that he only worked on his roots and then let me deal with my plants. But, practice is practice. At the back of the garden stood my little towering apple trees. They were just a little taller than me, but were already started to show the beginnings of apples growing. They really took to the Alteration magical growing process. Mostly because Talvas helped me with it. He wanted apples just as badly as Kyuu did. But, at least we got the plants to grow in the dirt underneath the ash. That was something to be proud of.

"Apprentice Veselle." Master called from behind me.

I spun to face him. "Yes, Master?"

He walked right past me and up to my garden. "Things are looking good here. More application to the apple trees and we should be having ripe apples in two or so days. Grapes should be ready by tomorrow, and your berries are already ripened." He looked over at me. "I would have started my own garden ages ago, but was merely too busy for the upkeep that the garden would require. It is lucky that you wish to have a garden with fresh fruit to eat. It really gives us more resources here. And…if you're really interested in having continuous honey, I am not above the idea of having a few beehives around. Honeycombs are valuable in alchemy, and honey is nice to have in canis root tea. To have our own honey farm…I would almost believe this place to be a Telvanni town soon enough. And it very well may become one, if I can find more Telvanni mages to move here." He shook his head at the idea. "I moved here to be away from all the commotion, but…it does feel nice to have company." He rubbed the top of my head. "Come now, Veselle. Time to protect your garden from netches and hoppers."

He lifted up one of his volumes of different types of circles. "I told you to read this book yesterday. Do you recall which type of circle you will need for your garden?"

I nodded. "I plan on doing three circle, much like my training circle."

"Oh? That's very ambitious of you, Veselle." He replied. "Which circles have you decided on? I cannot wait to hear this."

I grabbed the book from him and opened it up to chapter 6. "The Protection circle you used." I pointed to the specific circle. "It's the circle that you used to keep wild animals from coming inside and messing with me while I did my studies. Well, I found a similar circle for crops. It keeps all forms of destructive insects and animals out of the crops, but allows things like butterflies and honey bees. You know, stuff that helps plants grow. The second circle I want to use is another circle used to protect the plants from the elements, much like the other circle you used for me. Except this one will let things like the effects of sunlight inside so that the plants get their necessary sunlight to continue growing. And the third one is just an enhanced growing circle. It will help speed up the growth of the plants."

Master nodded at me, rubbing his chin. "You have seemed to have thought this through. What do you need to complete these circles of yours?"

"A Quartz wand…much like the one you use for the Circle of Protection. You see, I looked it up. All Restoration circles require to be drawn by magicka channeled through a quartz wand, and the Circle of Protection is a Restoration circle. So is the Circle of Enclosure. The Circle of Growth is an Alteration spell, so I need a wand made out of malachite to successfully write it."

Master nodded during the whole thing. "I brought both wands; I figured you'd use these three circles. I am pleased to see you choose the same three circles I would have used." He pulled out the two wands. "Now, I am interested in seeing you draw these circles. You understand what a circle is, but do you know how to create one?"

I shook my head. "The book gave me a simple explanation, but I didn't quite figure it out. Ok so…" I pulled out the volume he gave me. "I understand the whole… 'The concept of the circle is the basis that the circle encloses one implied will upon the ground, and is finished once one 'closes' the circle'." I looked up at him. "I do not know what…closing the circle means."

Master crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He groaned before lowering himself to the ground. "And I was beginning to think that these petty lessons were pretty much over." He mumbled to himself before preparing to draw in the ash. "Do you understand the process behind drawing?"

I crossed my arms and arched one of my eyebrows at that. Was that a serious question, or did he think that I was so stupid that I really didn't know how to draw? "Of course I know how to draw. Any two year-old knows how to draw."

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Master replied. I was about to yell at him before he continued. "Drawing in this sense is not the typical drawing in the sand. You must draw using your magicka. The magicka you use for your circle has to be in the same principle that your circle is in. If you're using a Restoration circle; not only must you use a quartz wand, but you must will you Restoration magicka to flow through the crystal and into the circle and the sigils that you draw. You will tell that it is working because the line you draw will cast a light hue of magicka and will remain for a few minutes. This is why we must close the circle. You must draw the whole thing before the magicka fades away. It takes about ten minutes for magicka to fade away from an unclosed circle. And to close a circle, all that means is that the outside circle is completely drawn and the magic stable. From there, you have an additional 20 minutes or so to draw your sigils. For a beginner like you, it may take almost all the time you have to draw it, also depending on size or contents of the circle too of course. Once you have all the sigils, all that remains is binding the circle, and I will go into that once you have finished your first completed drawing."

Ok…so…I had no idea what drawing really was. Huh…I didn't think it took this much effort just to draw a circle. I felt some anxiety forming inside of me. So, I closed my eyes and willed the anxiety to just fade away. After a few relaxing breathing exercises Talvas showed me, I stuck out my hand for the crystal wands. Master gladly handed the quartz wand to me and then I think I saw him smile. "Talvas does the same thing before he begins a real project. Am I to guess he's really taken to being your mentor then?"

I nodded. "He's helped me a lot these past few days." I said as I opened up the book and turned to chapter six. I got a good look at the sigils and brought the book inside the garden with me. The sigils had to be on the inside of the circle or else they could easily be destroyed outside it by anyone who knew how. That's the thing with circles. They protect what is inside based on what they need. So, the sigils always go inside the circle right underneath the line. I took a good look around my garden. I had a good idea about how big the circle would have to be. I had to be just big enough to protect all my plants, and big enough for me to fit all my sigils inside it. So I made the circle a foot away from where the plants would have finished growing out of. I sat down and focused on the crystal wand. Ok, this should be just like flowing my magicka through my hands into the heart stones to enchant my robes.

I focused on my magicka taking the form of healing, of Restoration. I felt the subtle churchy feeling magic in my body and I willed it to flow through the crystal wand and into the ash. And then I started drawing my circle. I felt my magicka flow through the circle and into the ash, where I could see a faint outline of where the magicka continued to lie in the ash. I was doing it! I was actually doing it! And so, I continued carefully drawing a circle in the ash. It took me a few minutes, but I had it done with plenty time to come to the end. And when I finished the circle and my magicka fused, I felt a solidifying pop. I knew that my circle had just closed. I can't believe it. I was actually doing this right!

I looked outside of my circle to see Master nodding to me. He tapped the watch on his wrist and I think it was a subtle clue that I was wasting time. So, I stood up and ran over to the book. I looked at the specific sigils and runes that I would have to write. They looked Aedric in design. Of course, all Restoration sigils and runes were Aedric in design, just like how all Destruction spells were Daedric in design. I started from the top of the page and started drawing the accompanying sigils; careful to make sure I drew the symbols correctly. It took me another six or so minutes, and afterwards, I was sweating pretty hard from exerting so much of my magicka to make it work. And when I was done with the sigils, I didn't feel anything really happen. I wondered if I did it right. I reread the page, but didn't see anything out of place. I guess there was no pop from this set.

Master looked into the circle and then looked at me. "Tick, tock, Apprentice. Time is running out. I count six minutes left. Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to bind your circle?" I was about to say something, but he only held up his hand to silence me. "You're wasting breath. I know you don't know a thing about binding; I was simply making a point. Now, go to the center of your circle and prepare to connect with your circle." So, I stood up and stepped into the center of the circle. It was a crude circle and I'm positive it wasn't perfect. "Ok, now I want you to close your eyes and see the circle you have drawn. Feel the magicka flowing inside it." And I did so. I could 'see' the circle around me, and I could feel the magicka flowing inside it. "Now, visualize your intentions. You drew this circle to protect your plants, so confirm the circle's use and then will the sigils and the circle to be complete. You'll know it has worked when you feel the circle spin and the magicka connect to the actual spirit of Mundus. Just trust me on this."

And I did so. I visualized the circle around me and willed my intention into the very circle. I repeated in my mind that I wanted the circle to protect my plants from anything that would harm them, to keep enemies out of my garden, while allowing bees and other helpful insects into the circle. And after a minute or two of focusing on this, I felt the energy inside the circle spin around and then…I felt a pop and a small explosion from where I stood. It flowed across the whole circle in a flowing cyclone before slamming into the existing wall. The cyclone solidified there, still flowing around in a circle, but not leaving the circle. And that's when I opened my eyes and saw the outlines fade away. They glowed extra bright before they did so, and when they faded away, I could see the perfect ink that replaced my drawing. My imperfect circle was gone and replaced a perfect drawing of one, and my sigils looked like they came straight from the book too. I was so proud of my circle. And now, I knew nothing would come in and kill my plants. This was a victory all on its own.

I turned to look at Master, to see if he would give me any praise. He only nodded in acceptance. "For your first attempt, I congratulate you." He started to turn away. "Now, do the same for your other circles. I will not supervise this time. I think you understand it. Once you are done, you are free for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we'll work on more flames. Oh…there is one more thing I want to teach you tonight. And it very well may save your life."

I looked back at him. His eyes glowed for a second and I saw Destruction magic form in his hand. He launched it at the ground and I saw the Destruction magic solidify into a round circle with a rune inside it. "It's called the Fire Rune. It's the combination of Destruction magic circle and the flames spell. The concept is simple. There are two circles within the flames rune. The first circle is a Containment Circle. You know this circle well enough. It's the one that keeps your magicka from destroying my tower every night. And directly underneath that circle is the Activation Circle. When something crosses this circle, whatever it activates well…activate. Directly underneath that is a set of Explosion runes, which surround the flames sigil. When someone you perceive as an enemy crosses your Fire Rune, it explodes with Fire magicka, killing or at least maiming anything inside it. And you only have to draw it once. Once you draw it, it is burned into your mind like any other spell. Much like your Protection circle. If you think about it, you still know how to draw it. It's forever burned into your mind. I drew the circle that night to show you how it was done. I don't need to, and now you don't need to either. This Fire Rune is created the same way all circles are drawn. So, before the night is done, I want you to know how to draw this circle and then show it to me."

With that, Master turned around and headed for his tower. I watched him as he walked into his tower and then closed his door. I let out a held breath and then fell to my knees. I had no idea just how exhausting creating that one circle had been. I looked at Kyuu, who only watched me with wide cute eyes. "How are you doing?" I asked him.

He only smiled and wagged his nine tails. "I'm fine. You seem tired. Do you want to rest?"

I looked up at the just rising sun. I had all day to do this. But…I had a new book that I wanted to read. I started reading the shadow journals of the past. The one I was currently reading was about the Shadowwraith Nakuma. But there was a new series that had come out about a month ago. They were called the Chronicles Series. There were eight volumes to the series, and they pretty all told the same story, just a different point of view on it. They usually began with a journal entry and then explaining what had happened after that journal entry had written. In a way, the Chronicles series was a series of unenchanted shadow journals. I was currently reading volume one, the one written by the High King himself, Asger Stonearm. I hadn't gotten too far into the story yet, and he hasn't even gotten in Skyrim yet, so I don't know what's going to happen, but I wanted to find out. The sooner I was done here, the better off I was.

So, I walked up to the waiting Fire Rune. I looked it over, and I could actually see the Containment circle and the sigils underneath it. I mean, I've seen the circle that I trained in all week and I had gotten a good look at the sigils inside it. It was exactly the same. The circle underneath it looked different and then there were the six runes that surrounded the symbol for fire. So…if I stepped inside this…would it blow up? I don't know exactly if Master's rune would blow me up or not, so I decided to not go poking it with my staff. I pulled out my book of shadows and started copying the image of the Fire Rune inside it with my magical quill that never ran out of ink. After that was done, I walked over to my training circle and started inscribing the same image into the ground with my staff tip while focusing on my Destruction Flames magic.

It took a few minutes, but from what I remembered the spell was a lot smaller than my first circle. I finished by drawing the flames rune and I felt it pop into place instantly. Ok…I got it down, but how did I test it? I found myself smiling as I thought of the perfect test subject. I didn't waste any time as I ran up to Talvas's door and banged heavily on it. I promised him I wouldn't just barge into his room before sunrise, well…the sun technically was rising and I wasn't barging in.

I waited outside his door for a few seconds before I heard him groan. I knocked on his door again and waited for another few minutes. He finally fell out of his bed and groaned in pain. A minute later, I saw his door opening up. He stood droopy-eyed at the door, barely focusing on me. "What do you want, squirt?"

"Can I test something on you?" I asked him as sweetly as I could. "If you say no, I won't stop pestering you until you say yes."

He sighed as he walked outside. "And I don't doubt that you wouldn't. What is it you need testing?" I pointed to my training circle, which only made him sigh more. He groggily walked over to my training circle, and I followed behind him the entire way. I sure hoped it worked. Talvas stopped right before he broke the threshold of my confinement circle. He looked down at the single Fire Rune before looking over at me. "You've got to be kidding."

I smiled as big as I could and put on my cutest face. "I need to see if it works."

He rolled his eyes before pushing me outside my confinement circle. "Knowing you…I'll probably die when I do this. So…in case I don't make it through this, I think you're pretty cute. But I know you'll be the death of me someday." He patted me on the head and walked over to the Fire Rune. He took a few seconds to wrap himself up in as many armoring spells and placing healing circles and wards all around himself before stepping into the rune. As soon as his foot broke over the circle all I saw were a giant orange flash, a delayed response, and then nothing but blaring white that covered my entire circle of protection. It raced up fifty or so feet, the highest I've ever seen from my fire spells. Half a second after the blinding light almost cooked my eyes, I heard the large blast that could have deafened me. If it wasn't for the circle's protection, I was certain that there would have at least been a sonic boom that would have thrown me back, but even that was blocked by the circle.

The light and fire started dying down. As soon as all the smoke dissipated, I didn't even see Talvas inside the circle anymore. I looked around the circle for him, even up in the sky to see if some of his body parts were raining down. I didn't even see one trace of him. I was starting to get worried. Did I incinerate him? Oh no…Master would kill me if he knew I killed Talvas. And then Master would be all alone! And he would love that! I couldn't let Master have something nice, especially if it meant me dying. I crossed my arms and looked around for any sign of Talvas. I didn't see any. I was about to give up when I felt a hand clamp around my back shoulder. It was enough to make me jump and snap myself around. Talvas stood there, half of his robes burnt off his body from his waist up, and his hair party charred. His body seemed just fine…but then I started to feel my face flush as I noticed that he had perfect abs.

Talvas shook his head as he stared around dazed at the area. "Is…is this Aetherius? Are we dead?" He looked down at me and shook his head. "No…we're surrounded by ash…and _you're_ here. This has to be Oblivion."

I scoffed and crossed my arms at that comment. And to think I was worried for him. He just called me worthy of going to Oblivion. "Hey!" I yelled to him. "I didn't try to kill you."

He didn't even acknowledge me. He looked down at me and screamed, "What? I can't hear you. My gods…what is that loud ringing?" Oh no… was he deaf? This was all my fault. But…as least he was alive. That was good.

"We should take you to Master. He'll know what to do." I started pulling on Talvas's arm.

He rushed past me, pulling me instead. "I think I lost my hearing! We should talk to Master. I'm sure he can fix my ears!" He screamed to me as loudly as he could. I struggled to keep up with him and he continued to pull me as he sprinted for the tower. I thought he was going to rip my arm off. He rushed us into the tower, wrapped me up in my arms, and then we started floating quickly up the levitator. When we landed, Master was waiting for us. He had a few staffs in his hand and he had the look of war on his face.

He stopped when he saw us. He scanned Talvas's body and then looked at me. "What is going on out there? I heard something explode. Are we at war with someone?"

I shook my head, and was about to answer him, but Talvas screamed, "Master, I can't hear anything."

Then Master looked at me. Instead of scowling, he only nodded. "Ok, I think I understand now. You tested your fire rune on Talvas. And here you were just a few days ago, complaining to me about using you as a test subject for my enchanted heart stones, and here you are…almost killing your mentor." He pushed me away from Talvas and then examined his ears. "You blew out both of his eardrums. I should check your hearing as well."

"I can hear just fine." I said to him. "The circle absorbed the shockwave as well as the explosion."

Master nodded and then went back to examining Talvas. He looked from the ears over to Kyuu. "You, summon spirit. Come here at once."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulder and onto Master's outstretched arm. "My name is Kyuute!"

Master rolled his eyes. "And a fine name it is." He placed Kyuu on Talvas's shoulder. "Do you heal beam I saw you use on Veselle."

Kyuu nodded. His body started glowing with white magicka, his ears perked up, and his eyes glowed bright blue. A white light formed around Kyuu and Talvas. Now, I never got to see this from the outside, but what I saw was amazing. The burns and the blood on his body just…vanished slowly. And then, I could see the pieces of fabrics that were his robes regenerated on his body as well. The beam of healing continued slowly before there was nothing left to be replaced. The light faded away and Kyuu lied down on Talvas's shoulder. "Can I have an apple now?" He said when he looked over at me.

I nodded. "Sure, you can have an apple."

Talvas looked from Kyuu to me, then to Master. "Master, I can hear now."

Master Neloth nodded. "So it would seem." He looked over at me. "Apprentice Veselle. Next time you wish to test a spell, you test it on _me_. Understood?"

I nodded. "Yes, Master. I just didn't feel it was proper to test something like that on my instructor."

"Nonsense." He waved it off. "I'd rather you test your spells on me than Talvas. I'm old, experienced, and I can tell when a spell goes right or wrong. Talvas will do what he can, but remember he's an apprentice like yourself. He could have died; and then I would be left with just you. I'm trying to rebuild an entire lost lineage. If you kill us off…that will never happen." He grabbed me by the arm and then said, "Now…you're going to show me that spell, and I will judge for myself its accuracy."

I sighed as I looked over at Talvas. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "It's ok. I'm going back to bed."

Master dragged me outside, right back to my training circle. He tossed me into the circle and said, "You wrote it once, now summon your circle without physically drawing it. I want to see this."

I still didn't know what to do, but I visualized the rune in my head. I started building up the fire magicka in my hand. I aimed it for the ground and then let the magicka go. A small burst of fire blasted from my hand, and for a second, I thought I did it incorrectly. But then the flames spilt onto the ground, spinning around until the flames solidified into what looked like the fire rune spell that I wrote earlier. When the flames settled, I could see the red outlines of the actual spell. It worked? I actually did it? Holy crap, I never knew it was this easy. And it was a new spell I could use whenever I needed it. Just hopefully it wasn't needed any time soon. I've seen just how much it explodes.

Master grabbed me from behind and threw me out of the circle, with almost enough force to send me out of all three circles. He walked up to the fire rune, examining it. "Well, well. This is quite a special little rune you drew. So much power inside it." He didn't coat himself in any spells before he stepped over it. And just like before, the fire rune exploded into a ball of light. I closed my eyes and looked away before Master was consumed in fire. I waited there for a few seconds before looking back into the training circle. There was nothing but burning orange light with smoke flying further into the circle. When it faded away, all I could see was Master standing there, not even a thread of his robe out of place. He had his arms crossed, looking at me. "Not bad, Apprentice. Every powerful, sloppy though. And don't worry; I was able to protect myself. Any Telvanni master would be able to. With time you will be able to be a little more precise with this type of casting and then no one will be able to stop you."

He strolled out of the circle, looking at me. "So, Master. Was that ok, then?"

"As good as it could have been. Try not to make them explode quite so much next time. If you're too close, it will tear you apart too and everyone else on this island too." He stopped and pointed to my garden. "Now go finish your circles for your garden. And we'll continue your lessons tomorrow morning."

I looked up at the sky. The sun had finally finished rising into the sky. Jeez, not even 6:30 and I've already done a lot this morning.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And now more time will start to fly by in the chapters. I might even do just random around the tower types of chapters where all she does is find ways to entertain herself. i mean, she is getting pretty capable of using magicka now and she'll cease to be the know-nothing apprentice soon enough. Well, at least until I have to start writing about alchemy, which isn't too far away, and then the whole ...you know actual storyline kicks in in the second arc. The first arc is about her learning how to control and develop her magic abilities. The second arc is about...well...the normal stuff you'd expect from my stories. it will be a fun time, I hope so.  
_


	6. Jester's Day!

**Cearbhail**:

__Ok, and we're back to this story. I was working on the Maleek's Journey for a while and I will be finishing it up next week and then move onto chronicles of Ruby. I can't wait to start that. But, I was going to continue the story with this chapter and advance the story, but when I went to check on my document that has all the Elder Scroll holidays and months on it...I found something out. The previous chapter was on a holiday, and it didn't seem right that I didn't express what the holiday was. So...that's what this chapter will be about. Jester's Day! yay! It's celebrated all over Tamriel, and to be honest, I love a good chapter about pranking. Ever read my Genis' Adventure to find Presea? It all started out as a giant prank...and then got really bloody and stuff later on. but anyway, this is a good chapter. and a surprise!  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of Shadows,_

_It is still the 28th of Rain's Hand. I spent all morning finishing up my circles, but I'm not done yet today. Sure, sure, all my chores with magicka are done, but I'm not done yet. It's 28th Rain's Hand! You know what that means! Everyone knows what that means! It's Jester's Day, duh! And I, for one, am not going to sit around on my butt and do nothing about it. Of course, I already had some fun with Talvas today, but that was too easy. That was business. Now…what to do, what to do? Who to pick on? Master would be a good target, but how? He's old, experienced, and I'm sure he's survived several attempts on his humility before. Talvas would be easier, but what to get him with? What pranks are new and innovative? Hmm…I just can't decide._

_Veselle._

_…_

I couldn't figure out what to do today. Everyone deserved at least one prank on them today, but I didn't want to do anything bad…I didn't want everyone to hate me. Back in Riften this was a great celebratory day and everyone got their mischief on, and I'm guessing that doesn't happen much here, if not at all. It seemed like everyone had a stick up their butt and I wanted to change that a bit. So, here I was in my room trying to figure out what I could do. I should make it magicka related since I was supposed to be learning new ways to use magicka. So, I looked through several tomes of Alteration magic Master Neloth left me to study from. Alteration and Illusion were the major magics used for these days. I'm guessing Illusion would work best on Talvas; he's a bit lightheaded when it comes to Illusion. And Alteration magic for Master. Because I doubt he'd fall for Illusion spells.

So, I poured through the tomes of circles and spells for stuff I could find. And I found several Illusion spells that I thought were pretty funny if I casted them correctly. There was a light spell close to a firecracker. It was a distraction spell. If I casted that in front of Talvas it would disorient him. And to make it funnier, I could be invisible and take the pillow off his bed and bring it back to my room and hide it so he wouldn't be able to find it. I could just turn his entire room invisible to, so it would look like I stole everything. But…he'd come find me. And he'd have to leave his room. That's where a circle would come into play. There was an Illusion circle that when someone stepped on it they would be tricked into thinking they were teleported to an alternate realm of my creation. I just had to vividly picture where I wanted him to go. Riften…why not? Ohh…a beach. That's a lot better. With some Altmer women to pander him. That would be funny to watch. There, harmless and funny, and I still get to prank him. I don't know the specifics, but that Illusion spell with the Altmer servants involve the word dominatrix…whatever those were. I'm guessing it's a fancy word for maid. Oh well, I'm sure Talvas won't mind one bit.

Now that I had my prank for Talvas, I needed one for Master too. He really loved his canis root tea, so…what if I used Alteration magic to make it taste like skooma? That would be funny for me, but I'd probably be punished for it. Was it worth it? I couldn't get away with much with Master, but I'm guessing one prank on him wouldn't matter much. Oh well, I couldn't think of anything else that could even begin to work. So, I closed my book and went to the doorway to leave. I looked back at Kyuu and smiled. "Coming?"

"Where are we going?" He asked as he jumped onto my shoulders. He curled up and lied down. I was getting more used to the fact that he weighed less than a pound.

"We're pranking Talvas and Master." I said as I opened the door.

"Why?" Kyuu asked.

"Because it's Jester's Day, Kyuu. It's the one day the entire year where I can prank everyone in this tower and not get in serious trouble for it." I petted Kyuu on his head as we walked outside. And as soon as I stepped outside my door, I heard the hum of a spell. I looked down to see that I had walked into a circle drawn by my doorway. I didn't have time to react before I felt water crashing down over my head, like someone had dropped a bucket on top of me. Kyuu cried out in alarm as we were pelted with water. The water spell died off pretty quickly, but that didn't change the fact that I was soaked now. And pissed… Only Talvas would do something like this. And he didn't even wait around to see it go off and laugh like I would. This calls for revenge.

"What was that?" Kyuu asked as he stretched up, shaking the water off of him.

"A prank." I replied as I looked down where the water rune was sitting not even two seconds ago. I wished I could have examined that spell and jotted it down in my journal before it activated. I would have put that under Talvas's bed and set an automatic timer to go off three seconds before midnight…for my revenge. I looked over at Kyuu. "That's the type of stuff that we do to each other on a day like this. I just…I didn't expect anyone here to participate in it." Darn it. That meant that Talvas was probably ready for me then. This made it more rewarding to have my prank to go off successfully then.

"Jump off for a second." I waited for Kyuu to jump off before I took a warming breath. I willed fire magicka to surge through me and I summoned a ring of fire around me, just warm enough and long enough to dry me and my clothes. When I finished, Kyuu jumped back onto my shoulder and set himself back down. "Ok…this means war." I said to Kyuu as I ran over to Talvas's room. I snuck up to his doorway and pressed my ear to it. I could hear him reciting spell incantations to himself by his desk. Good, he wasn't waiting for me then. I opened up my book of circles and looked for any under Illusion. I found the Illusion base circle, as well as the locational beach spell. There were some runes for the Altmer dominatrix maids, so I added that to the circle as well. Once I had that all written down, I felt the pop of confirmation and visualized exactly what I wanted from the spell.

Ok, so here was the theory. Destruction circles are pretty simple. They go boom…or splash…as you saw with me earlier getting dumped on. That actually seemed more like an Alteration circle, summoning water above my head could just as easily be Alteration, especially since it didn't hurt. I didn't get to see it well enough. But anyway, Destruction circles pretty much go boom…so there isn't much need to visualize what you need of it. It activates and anything that activates it goes boom with the circle. Illusion circles are different, though. You need intention and visualization for the illusion you want to cast. Much like the Restoration circles with the intention of what can get in and what can't get in. That sort of stuff. So, for this Illusion circle, I had to create the illusion I wanted Talvas to see when he entered. Of course the maid component was already drawn in, I didn't have to create them; they were drawn in. Once I had the place thought up, the circle spun and then I felt another pop which confirmed that the rune was now complete. And I set it to go off only for Talvas, no one else.

I opened my book for the two other spells I could be working on. The Invisibility spell and the Firecracker spell. I quickly read over them and hoped it all went according to plan. I preset the spells in my staff…something else I had been researching today for this. All I had to do was release the Firecracker spell and then release the built spell in my staff into Talvas's room. It would take care of the rest. And when Talvas chased me out of his room to find me for taking his stuff, he would step into this circle and get lost in my wonderland. And I'd draw that Alteration water circle under his bed. Perfect, just perfect.

So, I didn't waste any time as I pushed Talvas's door open. He looked surprised to see me rushing into his room. "Veselle! What are…"

"Blind!" I screamed as I stuck my hand out. The Firecracker spell popped up in front of him, popping several bright flashes in front of his eyes. He screamed out in surprise as he grabbed his eyes.

"Oh…you little brat!" He cried out as he reached around for me. "Why did you do that?"

"Like you don't know!" I said to him. And I silently released my built-up staff magic and watched as all the stuff in his room simply vanished as I turned everything invisible. "And I teleported all your stuff to Raven Rock! That's for the water rune outside my door!" I slammed his door behind me and ran back towards my room. I paused by my door waiting for him to come out. And he did. He slammed his door open and charged out.

"I don't know…" was all he could say before he activated my trap circle. And when he did, his eyes glazed over. "What?" He called out to nothing. "How did I get here?" I didn't bother answering him. He wouldn't be able to hear me. All his senses now belonged to this Illusion. The spell was designed to wear off in an hour, so he had an hour to be pampered by pretty Altmer girls. I didn't wait to watch him have fun. Instead I carefully walked past him into his room. He was stuck inside the circle I had drawn, and it would hold him there for an hour. He was lost in his mind. "Oh…hey girls." I heard him say as flirty as he could. I rolled my eyes as I opened my book and started looking for that circle. I found it under Alteration circles. Yeah, it's exactly what I thought it was. It was a trick circle. Designed specifically for this holiday, to play pranks on others. There was another one that summoned a pie in front of someone's face. It was actually teleported from a teleportation circle and activated right in front of someone. Hmm…that was an interesting one. I should learn those two someday. I was learning new ways to love learning magicka.

But I felt for Talvas's bed and lowered myself underneath it. I started drawing my circle for the water rune and I finished it pretty quickly. I made certain to put a delay on it so that it went off three seconds before midnight. As soon as I finished drawing it, I cast an Invisibility spell over top of it so that it vanished just like the bed did. I began to pull myself out of his bed, when I heard Talvas say, "Safe word? You never told me you needed one. Why? Why do I need one? What's the whip for?"

I looked over at him and his face started to cringe. What type of sick fantasy was he having over there? Man…he's pretty perverted, turning my innocent spell into a perverted fantasy. Fine…I'll just leave him there for a few minutes while I go find Master. I rushed past him as he started crying out in pain. Jeez…did I mess up some of the spell? There was no way he was doing this to himself. So, I decided to let him off the hook. I reached down and broke the circle. And just like that Talvas's eyes unglazed over. He stood still for a few seconds before he looked down me. "What did you do to me?"

I smiled as I shrugged. "An Illusion spell to have you pampered by Altmer servants."

"They weren't servants, Veselle. Those were dominatrices."

I nodded. "Yeah, those. That's just a fancy word for maid, right?"

He shook his head. "I'm not even going to begin to explain what they are to a child like you." He looked from me over to his room. He sighed and looked over at me. "What did you do?" He crossed his arms and walked back into his room. "Where is all my stuff?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I teleported them somewhere. Not sure where, but the intention was Raven Rock."

He growled as he looked back at me. "And to think, I thought we were getting along. Why are you doing this to me?"

"It's Jester's Day, moron!" I screamed to him. "You should know; you already dumped a water rune on me!"

"What…no I didn't!" He replied. He walked back into his room and I heard him stub his toe on his invisible desk. "Shab!" He cried out, grabbing his toe and jumping up and down. When he had that handled, he reached for his desk and rubbed his hand over it. "Wait a second…you used an Invisibility spell on my room…didn't you?"

I shrugged. "It's Jester's Day not 'be a jerk' day." I turned around and started to leave. "And I thought I'd have some fun with you and spread the love of pranking. Heck, with that water rune, I thought you'd have been ready for me." And right as I walked away from his room, I felt another spike of energy underneath me. I looked down to see that the same blue rune from before was directly underneath me. And I didn't have enough time to jump back before I felt another wave of water crash down on top of me. There was more this time, and it lasted longer. I heard Talvas laughing as I turned around, my hair plastered to my forehead. "That's just rude, Talvas. I was already soaked before I got here."

Kyuu jumped off my shoulders, shaking himself off. "Really!" He turned to face Talvas. "I hate baths!"

He shook his head. "It wasn't me, Veselle." He walked back into his room. "But, you should go see Master. I'm sure he's waiting for whatever prank you have lined up for him. He loves this holiday." He closed the door behind him. "Now, leave me alone. I have to get my defenses so whatever Master has lined up for me tonight won't go off." Tonight? Ah man…so much for my water rune.

"Apprentice Veselle, get up here!" I heard Master's voice call from the tower. Oh great…I think I know who's been pranking me. I took a second to let my fire magicka dry me off partially before I started walking over to the tower. I paused before I actually left Talvas's steps.

I looked at Kyuu. "Can you detect hidden circles of magicka?"

His ears perked up. "You mean like bumpity bumpity magic? Or like whoosh whoosh magic?"

I started moving my plastered hair away from my eyes as I looked over at him. "What? I…I don't even know what those mean."

He sighed as he jumped up onto my shoulders. "You know…remember vroom vroom magic?" He shrugged as he lied down. "Well, whoosh whoosh magic is really quick and nearly invisible. And bumpity bumpity magic is really rough and explosive. Or…is that boom boom magic?" His ears drooped. "Now I got myself confused. Thanks a lot, Veselle!" He whined at me as he lied his head down. "But…if we're talking about just feeling the pulse of magicka…or the scent…I think I can detect any invisible circles."

I nodded to him. "Good, because I think I found my rival for Jester's Day. And I think it's Master Neloth."

Kyuu looked up at me, his blue eyes filled with so much wonder that I thought he was going to squeal. "What exactly is this holiday? You mentioned it before, but why?"

"It's Jester's Day." I said as I carefully started walking up to Master's tower. "It's the one day out of the year where we prank each other."

"But why?"

"Because it's fun." I looked over at Kyuu. "You saw how much fun I had setting up those circles to capture Talvas."

"But he looked like he wasn't having much fun." Kyuu replied.

I shrugged. "True, but then again, I wasn't having much fun when a giant wave of water crashed down on top of me. And I'm certain the walk up Master's tower won't be any more fun than that. But…it's a world-wide event. Everyone everywhere is doing something for this day of prankery, and we're no different, I guess. It's really just a day to relax and have fun, while harmlessly pranking people you love and hate either for fun, or legitimate revenge. Much like with Talvas. I got both in."

I walked up to the ramp and took a quick look at the door. I took one step and hear, "Stop!" Kyuu screamed, and I did so. "I can feel a circle set up." He jumped off my shoulder, landing on the hand railing. "In fact, I can smell more than just one set up. They're all different too." He looked at me. "I don't know what they do, though."

"Can we get past them?" I asked Kyuu.

He shrugged. "I have no clue." That made me tap my chin for a few seconds before a candle lit over my head. "Oh? What was that Master?" I screamed as loudly as I could. "You wish for me to bring Talvas with me? Ok! I'll go get him!" I said as cheerfully as I could as I ran away from the ramp over to Talvas's room. When I knocked, he answered the door, already sighing as he walked out.

"I heard you from my door. Master wishes to see me?" Talvas asked as he stepped outside. When I nodded, he groaned but started walking over to the tower. I followed right behind him. And just like I planned he started walking up the tower, and one by one, all the runes appeared and went off. All at once…it was really remarkable. There were some Firecrackers going off, pies materializing from summoning circles, and a horde of Daedric fairies that did some sort of tickling magic on Talvas for a few minutes. And I watched from the sidelines as Talvas took all of it. By the time the runes wore off, he was lying next to me, breathless and covered in various assortments of pies made from whatever vegetables we had. He looked up at me, eyes wide. "You…you planned that, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Thanks!" I said as I walked past him. I stopped by the door and looked back at him. "You really are a great friend!"

Talvas just sat up, smiling at me as he chuckled. "You're so evil…wrapped in a cute package. I have to be more careful."

When I pulled on the door a strong buzz of magicka surged through me. It was enough to make me jump and squeal in surprise. Talvas chuckled harder from below the stairs. I turned to look at him. "That was pretty good; I'll give him that one." I said as I grabbed the door. The shock spell had worn off and I pulled the door open, stepping to the side as another pie materialized. It flew past me, landing somewhere on the ramp. I waited for a few seconds before I looked into the doorway. I looked back at Kyuu, who waited behind me on the hand rail. "See the appeal yet?"

He tilted his head to the side before saying, "Not sure I understand. This is fun?"

"Kind of." I replied. "Being on edge, sure that something is waiting to get you, to embarrass you somehow…yes. All year long it would get annoying, but for one day of the year, it's a great time."

"Ah…so a break from reality." Kyuu announced as he jumped onto my shoulder. "Ok, partner. I'm with you the rest of the way. Let's face whatever happens together."

I nodded to Kyuu and looked up the levitator. "Sense anything in the tunnel?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. No circles at all."

"Good." I replied and stepped into the tunnel. The levitator picked me up and started taking me up the tunnel. About halfway there it stopped. And I thought to myself…crap, I'm stuck here, and I know something was going to happen. Kyuu looked around frantically as well. "Kyuu…a ward please?" And just like that, he threw his ears up and his eyes glowed as a giant round ward encased us. And just like before, a horde of fairies appeared out of the walls, sprinkling some type of dust around the ward. The dust failed to reach us and the fairies vanished into the round tunnel wall. And then the tunnel started pulling us up the rest of the way, finishing with landing on a white rune. It exploded into a white powder underneath us. The ward continued to protect us as it exploded, though. Ha! We're just too good today. Good luck with whatever you have planned, Master. During this day of the year, I'm unbeatable.

Master waited for me by his table. When he saw that I was unaffected by his barrage of pies and fairies, he only smirked. "Well, well, Apprentice Veselle. Escape my justice?"

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Talvas took it for me."

Master almost smiled and I thought I heard the beginning of a laugh. "Well done, Apprentice. It's nice to see someone so reliable and cunning for once. Talvas really is a joke when it comes to the finer points of Jester's Day. House Telvanni worships the day as the one time a year we really get to work on our creativity with Alteration and Illusion magic, as I'm sure you are aware by now." He looked at me. "Did you get hit with anything at all?"

I gestured to my puffy, frizzy hair. "Your water runes got me."

"That wasn't me." Master replied. "I specialize in using my bound fairies to sprinkle itching dust on my victims, as well as teleporting pies."

"Talvas lied to me then." I said as I looked at Kyuu. "He really did throw water runes at me."

"It could be my daughter, Brelyna." Master replied. "She is back in her room. And she always loved water runes."

"What? When did she get here?" I asked him.

"Late last night." Master replied. "It's true. She came to visit the night I wiped my memory due to the embarrassing nature of that particular evening involving whatever it was that you did. She visited and wrote me a note telling me she'd come back home after her current mission of taking the Princess of Skyrim back home was completed. And she just got back from her mission. She'll be staying for a while. You might even learn something from her. She lives right next door to you, in the taller mushroom."

"So, you were the one that sprung all my traps." I heard a light voice call from behind me. It sounded like the voice belonged to a librarian, so quiet and precise. Standing behind me was a beautiful Dunmer woman, who was dressed like one of the College mages, wearing the grayish blue robes that most mages wore. She walked up to me and stuck out her hand. "I didn't get to introduce myself last time I was here. I'm Brelyna Maryon. Nice to meet you." I shook her hand and she looked over at Master. She bowed, saying, "Afternoon, father."

He bowed in return. "Welcome home, daughter." He walked back to his table and just like that, I heard an activation. The blue rune appeared below Master and I heard him sigh as a giant river of water appeared over his head, crashing down on top of him. He sighed as he turned around. "Very well…" And with a snap of his fingers a pie flew towards Brelyna. Brelyna dodged the pie by deflecting it. And…it flew right into my face. I didn't even see it coming, really. Kyuu cried out in alarm as he fell from my shoulders.

I pulled the pie from my face, wiping the cream out of my eyes before opening them. "Ok…I've been pied. That's enough for one day." I said to them.

"I can wash that off if you like." Brelyna chuckled to me and I shook my head to that. "Ok, fine. That was my last trick then." She tossed me a towel to clean the pie off with.

I wiped the pie off me while Brelyna and her father started chatting about the stuff that she did while she was in Skyrim. I heard about the Dragon Crisis through the Chronicles of the Dragonborn series, and I knew Brelyna was deeply involved in what happened. But…to see her in person was even better. And as an added bonus, those two I ran into in Riften: Ruby and Maleek…I found out they were major players in the crisis as well. And I almost got to meet them before they were famous. Too bad I had to run away and nearly get killed by Thalmor while they fought Mehrunes Maven.

I looked back at Kyuu, who was busy cleaning all the cream from the pie off him. "Are you ok?" I asked him as I helped brush whatever cream remained off him with the towel.

"I'm glad it's over." Kyuu replied between licks of his fur. "You try cleaning nine tails. It's not easy!"

"Aww." I heard Brelyna say from behind me. She was looking right down at Kyuu. "He's so…cuute!"

Kyuu smiled. "That's my name, don't wear it out!" He replied happily as he craned his head out to be petted.

"What is he?" Brelyna asked as she folded her legs down into a seiza position, sitting next to me. She started rubbing his chin, which made Kyuu purr out in bliss.

"He's an Aedric fox spirit. He is called a kyuubi, and he has nine tails. But that's all I really know about him. He's my bound spiritual ally but I don't know much about what he is." I looked at Brelyna to see if she had any ideas as to what he was.

She looked from me over to Master Neloth. "Dad? Do you have any clue?"

He shrugged. "I've dealt with Daedra, but on the principle that I don't recognize the Aedric gods as my masters…I haven't the slightest of clue about their pets."

Kyuu looked from me over to Brelyna. "I'm a servant of Kynareth. I live in the Garden of Kyn with all the other elemental animal spirits, as well as fairies and angels." He smiled. "I'm one of the special spirits that can use all forms of magic…when my caster grows stronger at least. I'm able to unlock newer abilities as I grow stronger off of my contract holder. Of course…the stronger I get, the stronger someone has to be to summon me in the future. It makes me sad that someday my caster will become so strong that I will never be able to hold a contract with someone weaker like Veselle is now." He looked from Brelyna over to me. "And my form may start to change as I develop too. Soon enough, with Veselle's development I will grow big enough to ride on." He smiled. "I was hoping I'd get to stay small and cute, but I'm little help to Veselle as I am now."

I reached down and petted Kyuu's ears. "You'll always be cute…no matter how much you change." Was he really going to change that much? I never thought of it before. What happened if I grew so powerful that no one could ever summon him again? Oh no…I didn't want that to happen. Kyuu deserved the right to be contracted to whoever he wanted to be contracted to. "Is that really true?" I looked up at Master Neloth. "If he grows stronger…will no one be able to summon him?"

Master nodded. "Remember what I said about the Vermeister you summoned? It would take three full-fledged summoners to bring such a thing into our realm, and it needs our magicka reserves to comprise its material body. The more magicka it requires to build the body…the harder it is for apprentices to summon new allies. That's why it takes a while before you're able to summon stronger atronachs, such as frost or shock. It takes more magicka to build their bodies than the lesser one…the flame atronach. However…" He looked down at Kyuu. "As he grows stronger, he'll be able to summon himself if he is bound to someone. And if he's willing to become weaker again, to lose what powers he has in Aetherius, he may come back as what he is now. That would be temporary, though. Until whoever summons him grows stronger and more capable. Isn't that right…demon fox?"

Kyuu waged his tails. "I haven't the slightest of clues as to what you're talking about." He squeaked happily. "But I'm glad you told me I can continue to come back as this cute form even after I've already obtained near limitless potential due to my previous master becoming near god-like." He looked over at me. "I look forward to growing off of you, Lady Veselle."

Master Neloth continued to glare down at Kyuu before standing up. "Do not think I don't know what you are, demon."

Kyuu blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He replied, and I was starting to get worried. Was there something about Kyuu that I needed to know about? I looked at Master for a clue, but he only smirked and walked away. And the way he did so…it scared me. What was going on?

Master looked back at me. "That is all for today, Apprentice. You may go about your business." Ok…this was getting weirder and weirder.

I looked down at Kyuu, who just sat there, staring up at me with his wide blue eyes. "I love you, Lady Veselle." Ok…I don't know why, but that scared me. Was this all a prank that the two of them set up? Kyuu curled up in my lap. "I'm taking a nap now. Wake me up if you need me."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone get the surprise? It wasn't that Brelyna is in the story... it's that Kyuu may be an evil spirit fox feeding off of Veselle's energy so that he can obtain his original destructive form and rampage all over Tamriel and kill everyone. Now.. I said 'may be' It's not a definite yet, but it is a possibility. I don't know where i sit on that right now. I like the idea of a cute little fox becoming stronger, but the whole evil giant fox with nine tails seems pretty cool too. And it would only add to that Madoka Magica think I had going on with that chapter when I created Kyuu. Well anyway, maybe someone will help me decide on that later on. See you next time!  
_


	7. Damphall Mine

**Cearbhail**:

__Well, well. When I first started this chapter...I had some real gripes about it, but I'll explain it at the bottom so I don't spoil something.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of shadows,_

_It's the 12th of Second Seed. Things have really been going around in circles these past two weeks. I wake up, I train with flames, I chat with Brelyna, I learn some new type of magic, and then I have the rest of the day off. I usually spend it tending to my garden. Our cook has gotten into the habit of taking the ripened vegetables and using them in his dishes. So…eating has become a lot easier for me now. It's no longer just ash yams…now it's fresh salads, smoothies…you know, good stuff. And we had time to go pick up the rest of the stuff for my room. I have an alchemy table now, as well as a bed-frame. And we managed to collect an older beehive. We got some bees for the hive, and we're waiting for the honey to collect. And it seems that Brelyna has become my mentor now, so that Talvas can focus on his own studies. Master is continuing his own research on heart stones, but far from anything else, it's just become everyday stuff now. It's nice to sit back and just learn stuff, you know?_

_I wonder how long it will last though. It feels like a calm before the storm, and I would know what that's like. It seems like whenever something in this place is this calm something bad usually happens. I just don't know what it is yet._

_Veselle_

_…_

My morning exercises went about as well as they usually did. I woke up, I practiced my flames, and Master forced me to put on unenchanted robes and stood me out in my circle. He dragged himself and Talvas inside with Brelyna watching over me, telling me to see if I'd burn through my clothes. You know how nervous I was? Master explained it to me very thoroughly that I had to accept that the clothes were part of who I was so that my flames wouldn't burn them just like how they didn't burn my hair or my skin. So, I asked Brelyna to turn around while I took the necklace off my neck. I thought of just how embarrassing it would be if this failed and I was suddenly engulfed in flames. And it stayed like that for a few minutes. And the more I thought about it, the more intense the flames grew. And finally, the flames died down and opened my eyes. I looked down to see that my robes were just fine. I could to it! I could finally control the burning nature of my flames. And now that I could keep them from burning my clothes, I could control it to where it wouldn't burn down Master's tower either. That was good.

"I did it!" I screamed to Brelyna. She turned around and scanned me. She nodded and went off to tell Master that it was ok to come back outside. I stood in my little circle while she left to go get him. And I felt so…exposed outside that I didn't really feel that safe. "Kyuu?" I called out for my familiar.

He came bounding from my room through his little doggie door. "Yes, Veselle?" He called as he jogged up to me, stopping short of coming into my circle.

That drew my eyes. He…he never jumped into my circle. And that circle was meant to keep out all the dangerous stuff that wanted to kill me. And I remembered what Master said about Kyuu, and how he knew what he really was. "Aren't you coming in?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Do I have your permission?" His eyes sparkled at the question. And…that felt like it could have been a trap question. Bad things can come inside circles if they're invited. And every time he's been inside the circle, it was because Master told him to go inside. He had Master's permission, but not mine. I never thought of it like that. Keeping that permission from him might very well save my life one day.

Kyuu wasn't the cute little thing he was when I first made a contract with him. He was still the same size, and he had the same cute face and body, but now he had fangs and more magicka capabilities. When I started learning Illusion spells, he learned a Charm spell. When I started learning Alteration, he learned Telekinesis. He was growing stronger already. And…I know I shouldn't be scared of him…he was my bound familiar but…it's just what Master said. His control of flames was now stronger too. He could roar like a dragon and just cover things in fire. He was growing into a stronger ally, but it was still the fact that one day he might try to hurt me. Maybe. I don't know!

I was about to answer him with a 'yes' when I heard someone coming from the pathway. "Good morning, Veselle!" I heard Captain Veleth say as he strolled up the road.

I snapped my head around to see Captain Veleth coming up the road. "Good morning, Captain." I bowed respectfully to him. "What brings you here today?"

"I need your Master's help." Captain replied from outside the circle. "A farm outside Raven Rock was raided by reavers. We don't know what happened to the family or where the reavers went. I was hoping I could use your master to help locate the family."

I was about to answer him as well, but Master Neloth had just come outside the building. "Congratulation on not destroying your robes, Apprentice." Neloth cried out to me. And that embarrassed me enough to where a giant wave of fire exploded all around me. I prayed I didn't destroy my robes. I was happy to see that they were still there and untouched. Phew…I don't think I could live it down if everyone saw me like that twice. More fire roared out of me and I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. Neloth looked from me with a smirk on his face over to Captain Veleth. "Welcome to Tel Mithryn, Captain. What can I trouble you for? Here for a cup of sugar?"

Captain looked around, nodding. "I like what you've done with the place. It's really starting to look like a small town."

Neloth crossed his arms. "It's not completely by design, but I understand that growth is inevitable. I am the last of the great Telvanni Lords. It is my mission to rebuild our House to its former glory. Might as well make a town as great as Tel Mora." He looked around. "If you encounter anyone who wishes to join House Telvanni, send them down here. I will see to making this a town."

Veleth chuckled. "In Redoran territory?" He shook his head. "I think I can allow it." He patted Neloth on the shoulder. "My reason for visiting is a request. A farm outside Raven Rock was sacked by reavers. We didn't see any bodies. We don't know what happened to the family; the ash storm covered the tracks leaving the house. I was hoping you could locate them for me and then we could go get them back. It's the Vedes family."

Neloth nodded. "Indeed, this is a task suitable to my talents." He muttered as he walked out into the sand away from the tower. He powered up a spell in his hands and released it. Four circles formed around his feet. They were just big enough to fit him. He raised his hands and the circles started glowing. Magicka started spinning in the circle. "I call upon the powers of the sun, the moons, and the stars. Vedes family, reveal your location!" The magicka whirled for a few seconds before there was a giant flash and Neloth snapped his eyes open, glowing red like a Daedra. "They still live." His voice sounded deeper, fouler. "Damphall Mine is where they stay."

Veleth nodded. "That's not too far from Raven Rock. I will go with some guards and free them."

Master shook his head. "Nonsense. The Redoran guard is needed to protect the city from the ash spawn. Reavers have no reason for prisoners. This might be a plot by whoever's been sending ash spawn to attack the town. The attacks been getting worse, it seems." He scratched his chin. Then he looked at me. "This would be an opportunity to send the girl to do it." He looked at Talvas and then at me. "Talvas, Veselle. Go to Damphall Mine and free the family." I looked at Talvas, and he winked at me in a reassuring way. Ok…as long as Talvas was sure that we'd be fine. Master seemed to notice it as well. "Apprentice…you've come a far way, have you not? Do you feel that you are incapable of stopping an enemy that is charging into you?"

I shook my head. No…I was pretty certain that I could keep someone from getting close to me. I did have some basic understand of martial arts, and I have my staff. I sure know enough tricks to keep some bandits away from me. Flames…Telekinesis…my runes, marital arts. Yeah…I'm pretty resourceful already. I wish I knew more healing magic though. I looked down at Kyuu…who smiled up at me, wagging his nine tails like they were one giant tail. Well…he could heal me if he needed to.

Master looked back at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "There is…one more thing I think I should teach you before you leave. Get in the circle." And so I walked into the circle. Master followed me inside. "Flames may hurt your opponent, but it may not be enough to stop them. There is a spell built off of flames that will stagger your foe, maybe put a hole in them too. And then there is a much stronger flames spell that will cause explosion damage. It will also stagger your foes…but you may accidentally hit your friends as well. Today I will teach you Firebolt, an apprentice level flames spell." He gathered the fire magicka in his hand. "You summon your fire into your palm and will it to take the form of a ball. And then…" He launched it at my feet. A ball of fire flew off his hand, slamming into the ground, lightly exploding on impact. "It's a simple spell and it has some kick to it. You can launch it with one hand, or if you really want to do damage…" He cupped his hands in front of him. I saw the fire pouring from his palms into a ball in the center. "You put two hands together to form a stronger spell. This one has the potential to stagger your foes. It has the impact of getting hit with a cannonball." He launched it from both hands and it roared from his palms, slamming in front of my feet. I felt the ground underneath me shudder at the impact.

I nodded. I brought my hand together. So…it would be like forming a flame rune then. I just gather the fire magicka into my palm and visualize a fireball. And when I felt the pressure build in my hand, I launched it at my Master's feet. A massive ball almost the size of me launched from my hand throwing me back. When it slammed into the ground it exploded with a massive blast. It threw me back off my feet. Master grunted as the fire in front of him suddenly split apart. With one wave of his hand, my fire died away.

He nodded. "Ok…for safety measures of everyone inside the cave…including the family we're trying to _rescue_…don't use two hands. The one you just did alone will be capable of scaring away an entire army of reavers." He sighed as he walked out of the circle. "Remind me to teach you how to _control_ how much magicka you use sometime. No need to kill anyone here." He walked next to Veleth and grabbed him by the arm. "We will be waiting for you in Raven Rock. Don't dawdle."

Veleth looked at Master, nudging him. "Boy, she is a scary one."

"Just don't embarrass her or she only gets stronger." Master replied.

Brelyna sighed as she patted me on the back. "Don't worry…he made me do things like this too. It really will help you become a better mage…if you decide to come back. I didn't." Thanks…that was helpful.

I looked at Talvas and then at Kyuu. "Should we go then?"

He nodded. "Might as well. Grab your staff." He said as he ran into his room. He came out a second later with two staffs. Why two? Kyuu took off for my room, and a few seconds later, he ran out of the doggie door dragging my staff with his teeth. He struggled for a few seconds trying to weasel the staff through the doorway. He finally got it through and bounded up to me.

"I brought your staff!" Kyuu announced with through his muffled mouth. "Aren't I the best?" He asked as I reached down to take the staff from him.

"Yeah…you're the best." I replied but I didn't look him in the eyes. I was still scared of what he might be. I mean…he's my familiar. He wouldn't be evil, right? I guess I couldn't avoid it forever. "Kyuu? You're not some monster, right?"

He looked up at me. "Is that what's been bothering you?" He jumped up onto my shoulder. "Why would you think that?"

"You never enter the training circle. And Master said he knew what you were…and he looked at you like he expected you to kill us." I said.

He sighed as he jumped off my shoulder. He ran up to the training circle. "Watch carefully." He stepped over the line and did a little dance on his four feet. He jogged around through the three circles, even entering my private one, danced some more, and then ran back over to me. He stopped by my feet. "No Daedra could do that. Only good spirits." He hopped onto my shoulder, lying down. "I may have been powerful once…maybe. That's the past. But I'm _your_ bound spirit now…and not to some crazy necromancer's that wanted to use me to destroy Tamriel. Spirits are influenced by their owners, Veselle. And you're my contract owner. I obey your rules and your morals. Remember that." He cooed as he settled down for a nap. "And I'm happier being a good spirit this time."

"Well…who was your previous owner?" I asked.

He looked away. "Nrillia." He commented and then closed his eyes. "Not a fun time back then. When she swapped bodies with some Bosmer I was released from her contract." Nrillia? Who was Nrillia? I guess it didn't matter.

Kyuu and I talked about stuff the whole way down to the mine. I guess I didn't know how much time had passed while I talked to Kyuu. By the time we finished our conversation, Talvas turned to look at me. "Veselle. We're here." He said. He was hiding behind a rock. I lowered down and snuck up to him. He looked back at me and then at Kyuu. "It looks like you've made up with your familiar."

I looked away. "Yeah…I guess."

Talvas looked back at me. "There are two guards by the door. Do you want me to handle the whole thing? You can just stay out here if you like."

I shook my head. I thought of Riften, how that Khajiit girl Ruby and that Argonian Maleek singlehandedly killed a massive god. And I was shot by a Thalmor. I had to summon a god to fight for me and save my life. If I had been stronger; if I had been better at dealing with those situations…it wouldn't happen again. And if I grew stronger…I'd be able to help people like that Ruby or Maleek if they ever needed it. "I have to do this. How about you stay behind me and you help support me?"

He shrugged. "Bold initiative, Veselle. Careful, I might start liking you more." He pinched my cheek. I had to knock his hand away.

As I walked past him, I punched him in the shoulder, which made him cringe in pain. I pulled my hair back into twintails and tied them off, reaching for my staff. I looked at Kyuu. "Are you ready for a fight?" Kyuu nodded and I took a deep breath before I walked up to the mine. Two scary-looking bandits…or reavers I guess stood by the entrance. When they saw me approach one looked at his buddy, nudging him on the shoulder.

"Hey…she's here." He said as he pushed off the doorway welcoming me. "It's about time, mage. We thought you weren't coming."

That made me pause. "What?" I couldn't believe that came out so harshly. And it made the two reavers recoil at my voice.

"B-but…of course you would come." He took a step back. "I mean…you asked us to get you some test subjects and…we told you we would." He grabbed me by my shoulder and directed me to the doorway. I looked back for Talvas, but I could barely see him from the rock he was hiding behind. He waved discreetly at me, giving me a thumbs up. Looks like I was on my own for now. "They're inside. Just talk to Duin. He'll give them to you…for the price we negotiated." He ushered me through the doorway. "Just go straight down. We need to be on lookout for any Redorans." He closed the door behind me. "Can you believe she's so young?" He asked his friend.

"She's a Telvanni mage…what would you do with such magic if you could? She's obviously using life magic to make herself younger." His friend stated.

What the heck was going on here? I don't know but…I didn't seem to have to fight anyone. Was this good? I have no idea, but as long as I can get to them and make sure they're safe, that's all that matters. I guess someone had hired the reavers to abduct the family. And it was some Telvanni mage. And I guess I looked like her. Ok…I can deal with that. I tried to look confident as I stepped into the mine. The entrance looked small, even for someone young like me. I found myself ducking under the beams over my head as I walked through the main tunnel. Some reavers were digging at the walls with pickaxes. It looked like they were mining iron from the cave walls. The paid little attention to me as I walked past them. Then I came up to a more open area…filled with nothing but water.

Yup, in front of me was a giant lake inside the mine. What was this doing here? Worst of all, I saw dead bodies deep in the water. They looked old and waterlogged. Was this where they dumped the dead bodies? "Ve…"

I shushed Kyuu. "Just call me 'Master' in here. They think I'm someone else." I whispered to him. He nodded and settled back down onto my shoulder. I looked around for a second. No one was even batting an eye at me. Was I expected to swim across this lake? Ugh…I didn't want to do that. And Master hadn't taught me Waterwalking yet. I looked back at the picking reavers. "Excuse me?" I tried to act a little cocky. I'm guessing whoever paid these people to abduct a family wasn't exactly a nice person. I think if I acted more like Master Neloth I would come across an appropriate character for this scenario. "Am I expected to dirty my robes getting my test subjects?" Yeah…that was something he would say. I'm almost certain of it.

One of the reavers sighed as he stood up from his lump of iron deposit. He walked over to me, stepping into the lake. "Hey, boss! The witch is here! Drop the lifter!" I looked up as a gate far above me opened up. And a stable-looking box with a handrail built in slowly lowered down. It hovered over the middle of the lake. The reaver standing next to me pulled a lever on the wall; a bridge underneath me rose to the surface of the lake that led up to the 'hovering over the water' box. I nodded to the reaver that pulled the lever and walked across the slick bridge, almost slipping on the way, to the box. I tested the weight of the box before I climbed inside it. It didn't even wobble. I had to hand it to the reavers…this was much better than swimming across a lake to get where they were. I held onto the ropes holding the box and looked up at the reaver looking down at me. He didn't wait a second longer. The box started lifting up and I started to slowly getting higher and higher. I started gripping the rope tighter as I avoided looking down. I really hate heights.

I closed my eyes and waited. The box finally came to a stop and the guard unlatched a door I didn't know even existed on the box. I kept that in mind for on the way back down. I wiped my hands off and stepped out. I nodded to the reaver. "I believe you have something of mine." I looked around. Locked behind a door was a family. One man, one woman, two children: one boy one girl. Hmm…so these were the Vedes family then? I looked around for the owner. "Are these my test subjects?"

The Reaver Lord nodded as he stepped up to see me. "As we agreed. You gave me 1,000 drakes for them and I went out and collected them as I promised. Take them." So…someone had already paid then. That made this a lot easier. Good. I nodded to him and walked over to the cage. He walked up with me, looking down at me. "You look a lot younger. Did you do something to your face and hair?"

I nodded. "Yes. I used Life magic to make myself appear younger." I said so casually that I almost believed I was this evil woman. The Reaver Lord seemed to believe me too. He unlocked the cage door. The family members were all tied up individually, their mouths wrapped. They stared at me like they expected me to kill them. Man…were they in for a surprise.

"Do you need some men to carry them to your lair?" The Reaver Lord asked as he looked back at me.

I sighed in an irritated fashion. I flicked my twintail and threw my hands on my hips like I had an attitude. "Do I _look_ like I need help controlling four pathetic farmers?" I channeled my inner-Neloth when I said that. "You are looking at a Telvanni wizard. If any of them run, I will dominate their minds and crush their spirits beneath my superior mind." I looked at the family, trying to look as intimidating as possible. "I am certain that these…" _What did Neloth call me?_ "insolent whelps will be of no concern." I even looked away to show how much I really didn't care. "They will follow me, or they will be turned into husks and dragged back by my vicious familiar." I gestured to Kyuu.

The Reaver Lord looked at Kyuu and arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure he _is_ ferocious? He looks cute to me."

Kyuu cleared his throat and jumped off my shoulders, landing on the ground. "You doubt the power of _Versantein_?" He breathed fire out his mouth as he spoke. His nine tails lit on fire and he started morphing into a giant sabre cat-sized spirit. Wow…when _that_ become a thing? He growled at the Reaver Lord for a second, breathing fire lightly out of his mouth.

The Reaver Lord backed off, raising his hands defensively. "Ok, forget I said anything." Kyuu started morphing back to the little cute version I loved so much. He didn't show it on his face, but I could tell his was exhausted from that. Reaver Lord gestured to me. "Please…go ahead, Master Ildari."

I reached into the cage and looked at Kyuu. _Kyuu? If you can hear me, scratch your ears cutely._ And he started licking his claws and running them over his ears like he was dancing. It drew everyone's attention to him. _Kyuu…can you talk to the prisoners? Tell them I'm here to save them? Just yip if you can. And tell them to lean forward if they understand._ And he yipped. His eyes glowed for half a second, his ears sticking straight up into the air. I looked back at the group. All four of them looked up at me, their eyes looking surprised. The father leaned forward, slightly nodding to me. I reached in for him, hulling him up. "I'll be taking my test subjects and leaving now." I said to the Reaver Lord.

I got to go down the lift first. I waited four times for the others to come down the reaver-made lifter one-by-one. Once all four of us were gathered up, I nudged them to come with me. We strolled right out the mine. I nodded to the guards, putting my attitude back on. "Congrats on getting me my test subjects for me. I will be in touch for when I need more." They nodded and I left with the family walking behind me. I kept walking with them behind me until we got to where Talvas was hiding. As we cleared the guards' points-of-view, I nodded to Talvas to join us.

He sprung out from behind the rock, nodding to me. "That sure was lucky. They were expecting you?"

I shrugged. "They were expecting a female Telvanni wizard…and I'm a girl wearing Telvanni robes. Yeah…they were expecting someone just like me. And apparently, she's old because everyone seems to think I'm shallow and using 'life' magic to make myself look younger." I scoffed at the idea as we walked away. "Well, either way, we got the family freed. And we did it without bloodshed. Let's just get them back to Raven Rock." As we got even further away, we untied the family members. We received some hugs and whispers of thanks. Once we got that out of the way, the six of us, plus Kyuu, ran back to Raven Rock as fast as we could before whoever paid for this family to be captured in the first place found out we took them. Along the way with our dead sprint, the family took several loud seconds to thank me for freeing them. I told them it was no problem, all while never stopping for a second. Last thing we needed was a bunch of angry reavers and a Telvanni wizard coming after us.

As we approached the Bulwark, Redoran guards were waiting for us at the entrance. Master Neloth and Captain Veleth waited for us at the entrance as well. They nodded a greeting to us as we ran up to the Bulwark. "Congratulations, you two, on successfully bringing the family back." Master said as he walked around me. "You look like you didn't encounter much a threat." Then he looked at Talvas. "You either, Talvas." He stepped in front of us and crossed his arms. "Explain."

And I did. "I told Talvas I wanted to take the lead…to get some experience in fighting." Master arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "And as I came up to the mine…the guards called me over…saying I was late. They told me they gathered the test subjects I wanted. They let me inside. And I just…played along. I went up the mine, convinced the Reaver Lord to give me the family. He thought I was some old Telvanni wizard who paid him in advance to collect this family. Once I got them in my care we left. Then we ran like oblivion to get back here."

Captain Veleth nodded. "That was quick thinking." He noogied my head and turned to the family. "However, this does present a problem. Whoever paid for these folks will show up to collect them. And they will find out that someone already took them. And then that person or the reavers will return to find them." He looked down at me. "And they'll remember you as well." He looked at the family. "Now…we don't have much room inside, but you can move inside the abandoned mine. I'm sure we can make room for you inside."

Master rubbed his chin. "I am curious about what will become of these folk if we leave them here. The Telvanni wizard may know how to find their location. It would be inconvenient for her to obtain these farmers after my apprentices put so much energy retrieving them. Not to mention…I want to know who this Telvanni wizard is."

"The Reaver Lord called me Master Ildari." I looked at Master Neloth. That made his eyebrows shoot up. And Brelyna caught her mouth like I said a curse word. "What?"

"Master?" Talvas started to say.

He dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Impossible…she's dead." He walked past me, looking at Brelyna, and then at the farmers. "You will come with us. We'll build you a house big enough for your family and you'll be safe with us. This…is a personal matter, and it seems you've been pawns meant to draw my attention. And it has worked."

Father Vedes nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Master Neloth." He ushered to his family. "Come kids…we're moving to…" He looked up at Master. "where are we moving to?"

"My little 'town' Tel Mithryn. Just follow Apprentice Veselle, the little one that saved you." His cape flapped as he started strolling away as fast as he could. "I must prepare your house. Take your time collecting your things from your previous house; everyone guard them while they pack up. I fear this has only just begun." He took off for Tel Mithryn, leaving me to look at everyone.

"What's going on?" I asked Talvas and Brelyna. Their eyes said it all. Someone from their past had just come back from the dead.

Brelyna looked down at me. "My mother might be alive." And that's all I heard about that.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so my gripe. I thought of a place where Reavers could in fact...store some prisoners. I used the wiki site and said... 'hey, a mine with Reavers'... ok. So i wrote that as the location. Surprise, surprise. I looked at the description of the mine. Two guards, two more inside. And then... past the pool. And that made me stop. A pool? In a mine? And then... past the bridge. What the hell was going on inside this mine? I had to break out my skyrim game and actually venture into that mine...which my 360 crashed when i did that (it loves crashing with skyrim in it). But did it again and found out there's a fucking lake inside. And I was like...oh...and Veselle's going to have to swim in this stuff. I already made her do so much crap. So, I ventured on, past traps, through Reavers, past a small settlement within the mine. It was a really intricate mine. And finally up to the final level, and laughed when i saw not only the trap door leading to the lake filled with dead reavers, but the cage door in the same room where they kept all the loot. Perfect, i thought. Elevator time.  
_

_Oh, and Kyuu.. I don't want you to think he's all cute and cuddly. Veselle made one mistake. She invited him in the circle...even if she didn't verbalize it. She accepted it and he was allowed in. Take that as you want to, but don't just assume he's good yet. I haven't made up my mind. He already lied to her about having no partners before...and that he had no strength before her contract. Just think on that for a while.  
_


	8. His pen is?

**Cearbhail**:

__Took me forever to figure out what I wanted from this chapter. But once I knew how I wanted it to start...everything else just wrote itself. Literally, so don't think I planned this conversation between Kyuu and Veselle until I had already gotten up to that point and went... hey... these is an opportunity to do something weird for once. Add some unexpected humor and stuff.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_The past week has been hectic. After a rescue mission where I actually single-handedly outsmarted some reavers into releasing a captured family to me, I told Master about a Telvanni mage with the name Ildari that had paid for them. He flipped out and returned home, but not before telling the family that they were moving to Tel Mithryn. By the time I returned with the family, Master was already busy setting up defensive spells and circles around all the buildings. And he had somehow built an entire farm house right outside Talvas's room. As for now, Master is too busy to teach me anything, and Brelyna is running errands for Master. So, Master put me on self-study, much like what Talvas has been on this whole time. I'm to experiment with Alchemy, and I've been doing so. You know…milk, ice…vanilla… and a bag. Ice cream…duh._

_What else can I do? It's not like I'm working on some important project that only I can figure out. Besides, I hear that alchemy is a hard thing to learn. Experimenting with all these different alchemical ingredients required for chocolate bars and different ice cream flavors really takes up a lot of studying, tasting, and lounging time. I will not stop until I find the perfect ice cream flavor. You know…for alchemy. ;)_

_Veselle.._

_…_

"Veselle, get out here!" Master called from my doorway, almost making me jump. He sounded slightly irritated and his tone of voice told me this was urgent. So, I grabbed my staff and rushed out the doorway. When I stepped out, the first thing I saw was a giant flash of light flying right into my face.

I screamed and just like that a giant wall of warding magic ripped up in front of me. I heard and felt the impact of the fire spell upon the ward…but it wasn't mine. Kyuu growled as he jumped onto my shoulder. "Looks like it's time for a fight, partner."

When the fire cleared away, there was a giant flaming thing that looked feminine in form. The thing stretched out its hand and fire sprang to life in it. It started launching several plumes of fire at us and I continued to stand there while the ward was pelted with flame spell after flame spell. I stood there in shock while I thought of what I could do. "Um…"

"Veselle!" Kyuu cried from my shoulder. "I know I'm getting stronger but…this is still a strain for me. I can't do anything else while this ward is up…and I'm running on low here."

"Right…" I said to Kyuu. I looked around my room. All I saw was my alchemy station, with a giant cooler of ice. "Right!" I said to Kyuu. "Just hold the ward until I say 'go'. Ok?" And he nodded. I cleared my mind and imagined my soulic arms reached out and grasped the ice. And I felt/saw the ice in the cooler as it started shaking and pulling up from the cooler. I had successfully used my Telekinesis spell. I visualized my arms launching the ice at the fire monster. And it started pulling back. Once I willed it…this stuff would fly. I waited until a plume of fire stopped on the ward. The thing was warming up another storm. "Now!" I screamed to Kyuu and he dropped his ears…and the ward. I launched my hands forward, my tiny imaginary launcher firing all my ice cubes at the flaming monster thingy. It looked Daedric.

The ice slammed into the creature, just enough to make it go defensive, covering its face. "Ok…Operation Ice Cream That Thing has officially begun. You take the Vanilla…I'll take the chocolate mint." Kyuu nodded and his eyes started glowing. My giant cooler filled with vanilla ice cream that tasted really good started flying up into the air, forming into compacted balls. I was doing the same with the chocolate mint. Time to …cream…this…whatever it was. And I charged out the door, my army of round balls of creamy goodness behind me. Kyuu and I separated as we ran circles around the temporarily blinded creature. When it finally came aware of us it started warming up more fireballs. And just like that it started throwing fire at us again.

A giant plume of fire raced for me and I jumped to the side as it flew past me. I actually had to roll as it rolled over my head. And when my knees touched the ground, I pushed myself into a roll that I had learned from Mjoll back in Riften. When I came up, I saw the giant river of fire falling down on me. I pushed off to the side, just barely escaping a haircut…a really bad haircut. But…I had an opening. And I launched three cream balls. I hit it right in the face, and it was blinded again. The circle of fire surrounding it started dying off. "Now!" I said and I started launching all my creamy balls. Kyuu did the same. We had nearly fifty between us. It was two entire containers filled with creamy goodness after all. Too bad I had to waste in on this. But we pelted the heck out of it. And before we even ran out, the creature was barely flickering with flames, down on its knees.

"No more…I'm full!" The fiery creature announced. I could see just how fat it had become. "Too much cream…I'm lactose intolerant." She screamed. "Oh…crap…" It screamed as lava flew out of where its butt would have been. The creature cried in horror for a few seconds while lava launched out of its butt like a molten river. And when it finished the thing exploded into flames. When the flames dispersed…there was nothing left of it. Good…I had just killed my first lactose intolerant Daedra. Lucky me.

"Apprentice!" I heard behind me; it was Master Neloth. I turned to see where he was. I turned just in time to be slammed with a full round of lightning. I was taken off my feet, flying through the air. My vision darkened and I didn't really know what was happening anymore. The lightning had run all through my body. Every part of me was screaming in both confusion and pain. By the time I hit the ground, my body was in full spasms and I was vomiting in my mouth. It tasted like mint chocolate. It was good…but coming up it wasn't.

"Veselle!" Kyuu cried. A giant ray of light formed over me, but it was suddenly taken away before anything could heal me. "Noo!" Kyuu's cries died off and then there was silence.

I felt the ground around me shaking. I had to…do something. I tried to make my body move, but nothing happened. My body wasn't responding to my commands yet. It was still confused as to what all the electric shock was. "Are you just going to lie there? If I were Ildari, you would be nothing but a pile of ash in the air. You need to step up your defensive training. And it is for this reason that you are going to take a quest." A quest? What was going on? "You see, the town of Raven Rock is running low on economic trade. If we do not assist it, the town will soon fall to low income. And if the town fails…the Redoran will retreat with most of the town. My tower is not moving…and I refuse to live on a gods' forsaken island with no resources coming in. So, I have chatted with Crescius Caerellius. It would seem that he has a plan to reopen the mine…which is filled with untapped ebony which would stimulate the trade between Raven Rock and Morrowind…as well as nearby Skyrim. So, you are going to Raven Rock to speak to Crescius. He will tell you what you need to do to reopen the mine. I expect there to be…violence. A good test of your abilities."

"Sir…I should come with her." Talvas said from somewhere my stiff neck and my motionless eyes could not see him.

Master sighed. "Oh, alright. The two of you make a good team, no dismissing that. And if you two become better at working as a team…well, who knows who you'll be capable of facing. However…I do not want you two teaming up too often. It might create a co-dependence…which the two of you will not always have. She will have to learn to walk on her own two feet eventually, Talvas."

"How about when she can at least control all the elements of Destruction?" Talvas snapped out.

Master grunted. "Fair point…I guess it was too early to spring my daughter's Flame Atronach at her… without shock or frost magicka to use against it…I honestly didn't think that through." Master walked over to me, standing right on top of me. "My apologies, Apprentice Veselle. I had a momentary lapse where I forgot…Flame Atronachs cannot be harmed by fire magicka… and you have yet to learn anything above it combatively. I am however pleased by your initiative and creativity in using frozen dairy products to compensate for your inability to magically defeat it otherwise." He patted me on the head and I felt Restoration magicka surge through me. I found myself being able to stand up. When I sat up I looked around for Kyuu. I didn't see him anywhere. He was just gone. Not passed out in the ash…just gone.

Master walked away from me, back up to his tower. "When you get back from your mission…you will begin learning Frost. You have been warned."

I stood up from the ash, brushing the ash out of my frizzled hair. My hair was frizzled? Must be from the lightning that had surged through me. I looked over at Talvas. "Did Master really call me outside to hurt me?"

Talvas shrugged. "He was testing you. The first time, I'm guessing. Keep your guard up for now on. Aren't you a marital artist? Didn't you have test weeks where you'd always be on guard because your instructor would come out from around a corner and fight you with everything they had?"

I shook my head. Mjoll and Karliah had only ever gave me light lessons; teaching me how to use a staff at the very most. I hadn't learned how to use a sword or anything, but they did teach me how to deal with a person who had one. I had only done a few lessons. I wasn't some black belt…heck I was barely a brown. Ok…I'm not bad. And I had been doing it since I was six. Ok…I'm a complete martial arts nut. And I kick butt…but I don't like people knowing that about me. I'm not a fighter…I just know how to fight pretty well.

Talvas waited for an answer, but I didn't offer one, so he shrugged. "Ok. But just so you know…Master is really pissed off now that he thinks Ildari might be alive. And if she returns… well… let's just say that these little training sessions will come in handy." He patted me on the back. "Well, we should get to Raven Rock and talk to Crescius."

We started walking along the trail that led to Raven Rock. I looked over to the farmhouse where the Vedes family lived. They were more than happy to move all their livestock over with them and just reopened their dairy farm here in Tel Mithryn. They had cows and chickens, which was nice because they gave us eggs and milk every morning. Where did you think I got all the milk I needed for my ice cream experiments? Too bad I myself am lactose intolerant. I can't drink a lot before I get gassy. It's because of this I stick to smoothies and grape juice. But I was trying to learn how to use milk in a way that didn't affect lactose intolerance. I was going to call it Lact-Assistance. However all experiments ended with painful sessions with the bedroom bathroom. The toilet and I were becoming best friends.

The Vedes family was actually a nice addition to the daily routine here. I got the chance to play with the kids: Draseth and Zeratah. Draseth was about my age, only he was 12. He helped his father with the cows every morning. He was pretty serious at his 'job' as his father's farming assistant. Zeratah, 10 years old, was a different story. She spent her time running around the chicken coop, playing with the chickens and rabbits. She would often bug Master Neloth or Brelyna for magicka training. It would seem that both of them would be joining us soon for training. Once Master found what he was looking for. I don't know exactly what it was yet, but he was rushing to find whatever it was.

I could see Seth collecting a bucket full of milk from their cow Druilliah. When he saw me passing by, he cracked a smile before putting down the bucket of milk long enough to open the door to their house. He lifted the pail of milk and headed into the house, giving me a nod before closing the door behind him. I heard laughing and screaming as Zera chased her favorite rabbit Hera around their garden. Yeah…they have a garden already. Jeez…this was turning into a farming community. I didn't mind. They actually helped themselves to my garden, tending it for me. I, in return, set up a bunch of protection circles around their own garden and their livestock. I learned some new healthy circles that helped the livestock grow stronger and healthier. It led to more milk and fuller eggs. It was nice we could all get along.

As we walked along the pathway, we came across what used to be the ancient base that we had blown up. All that was left was a giant collection of circles with a trapped ash guardian inside it. Master would come by once in a while and study the thing. But it was Brelyna up here this time. She was tapping on some Illusion-based keyboard with some illusionary display of the creature. She was tapping her chin as she looked over its general makeup and its power ratings. "I think I understand what Dad was saying…" She mumbled as she started tapping things. The ash guardian stared at her with what I assumed with disdain. That thing had been trapped in that circle ever since our fight here. It tried to kill me, and that was my first real fight. I almost died, but Master saved me at the last second.

_Veselle?_ I heard Kyuu's muffled voice in the back of my head. "Yeah?" I asked in return, staring up at the sky. It was enough to make Talvas jump but when he looked at me staring up at the sky he rolled his eyes and continued forward. He knows I have conversations with Kyuu like this. He just had to get used to it. _The dismissal has worn off. I've been trying to call you this whole time. You can call me back now._ "That's good. What happened?"_ Your master blasted me from behind._ "From behind?"_ Yeah, with a dismissal. It really hurt and it forced me to withdraw. _"I'm sorry to hear that. So, how's the afterlife?" _You know, it's not so bad. I tried to write my report, but my pen is running low on ink. _"Your pen is what?"

I don't know what I said but it made Talvas choke on a laugh as he turned to look at me. "What did you just say, Veselle?"

I shushed him and looked up at the sky. "Wait…I don't know what that is. What is that? Please be descriptive. I have to picture it to understand what it is." _A pen?_ "Yes. That."

Talvas ran up to me, covering my ears. "Veselle…that's a private question. You don't ask a guy about that!"

_Well…a pen is a small writing instrument. It's golden plastic tube that is long and slender…filled with holy water that is used to write stuff like my daily reports to my Vermeister overlord and my healing runes that I use. It's like a quill, but this runs on Aedric holy water._ "You write with it? With holy water?"

Talvas grabbed his head. "What is he telling her?"

I shushed him again. "Ok…so it's small, slender, and long…and it excretes holy water?" _I guess you could phrase it like that. It's a weird way to phrase it, but it's better to say that it just…writes. And it runs on holy water that turns into black ink on contact with a solid writing material. We write holy wards with it too. That healing beam I use on you is made up of holy water._ "So…every time you heal me you use this thing and the holy water from inside it on me?" _I guess…jeez, Veselle. You sure phrase things weirdly._

Talvas's mouth was gaping. "He pees on you to heal you?" He shook his head. "I never want a contract with an Aedric creature."

That drew my attention. "What are you talking about, Talvas? I'm just asking about the holy water from his pen..."

He held up his hand to silence me. "Don't…just don't." He kept on walking. "We should continue heading to Crescius. I want to get this done with."

_Are you going to summon me?_ Kyuu asked. _I'd rather be with you than stay here in this realm._ "What's so bad about it? Why do you hate it so much?" _Nothing really. It's just boring. I used to do stuff, you know? And when my contract with Nrillia ended, well…I lost all my powers, returned to this form. Not that I would trade this cute body for some massive bloodstained heavy form that only came from betrayal and war. I lost a lot of friends that day. _"Because you were huge and covered in blood?" _Yes. I got a bad reputation among my peers that I failed to keep my previous owner on the right path. She went bad and they blamed me. I was her first contracted ally. That's why I love being around you. It's my chance to get this right, and fix my past. I have to watch my back; people try to get me from behind once in a while, hoping I'll just…die or something. One day, someone actually tried to get me from behind._ "From behind? That's rude. If you should something like that, he should at least be able to see you coming for him."

Talvas grabbed his head. "I'm so sick of hearing about his thing and what he does with it."

"If it were me…I'd take him face-to-face. We'd go a few rounds, sure, that's natural, but I'd force him down onto his knees and make him beg for forgiveness. And then maybe I'd finish him. It's what I would do at least." Yeah, that's what I'd do. I'd kick his butt, but at least it would be a fair fight and it wouldn't be a stealthy sneaky attack. I'd hate being attacked like that, and have ever since that Thalmor got me from his attempted ambush on the Khajiit girl in Riften. "Someone got me like that in Riften. Caught me totally by surprise. I will never forgive him." I looked down, thinking about that day. That Thalmor shot an arrow into my chest. I almost died, and I only survived because that Vermeister filled me with Restoration magic. "That Thalmor ruined my favorite dress. It was covered in so much blood. And I only survived because that dragon filled me with that white magic."

Talvas grabbed his head. "I cannot believe you just said all that." He turned to look at me. "Veselle, I am not comfortable with this entire conversation. I don't want to know about what happened to you with the dragon and the white magic…just eww. And I don't want to know what you'd do to a guy. Ok?"

"What? Why does it have to be a guy? I'd just as easily take on a girl, you know." I crossed my arms. I'm not some selective fighter. I don't care who I fight, I'll kick all their butts if they try to kill me.

Talvas held his tongue as he turned around. "Oh look…we're in Raven Rock. I guess we'll just end this conversation here."

I formed my portal ball and tossed it up into the air. The portal ripped open and Kyuu fell from the sky onto my shoulder. "Took you long enough to bring my release!" He cried out in joy. He wrapped around my neck, lying down. "I hated having to wait for you to finish…" He snuggled up on my neck. _The portal. Sorry…too tired to from real words. Want to sleep. Ok?_

I nodded. "Go ahead and nap. I'll wake you up when it's time to continue. Ok?" He nodded and drifted off.

Talvas, the whole time, rubbed the bridge of his nose as we walked through town. "Veselle." He started to chastise me. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure…" I ran up to him, catching up beside him. "What's the question?"

He looked over at me. "Maybe I missed the conversation…maybe you weren't…talking about what I thought you were. Can you clarify what you were talking about?"

I shrugged. "Oh…you know. Kyuu's magical pen is low on Aedric healing water, and he's complaining to me because he uses it all on me from time to time to repair my clothes and stuff." I looked back at him. "I don't really know why you're getting all hard on me all the sudden. I thought it was Master's job to be hard on me so that I don't forget my place as his apprentice…but you're my upperclassman. You're supposed to be loose with me and just have fun mentoring me when I have questions."

Talvas looked away from me back to the road ahead of us. Everyone in town had stopped what they were doing and looked at us. Why were they staring at me with such wide eyes? I didn't get it. Talvas sighed. "I'm not hard on you…I'm just…" He looked around at the mouth-dropped shoppers and then looked back at me. "Choose your words carefully for now on." He smacked the back of my head and continued on. "You keep talking like this and people will start to think we're…you know…"

"No…I don't." I jogged to catch up. He didn't say a word after that; he just kept staring at the staircase leading up to the mines. "See? You're being a pain in the butt! You just won't come and say what's bothering you!"

He stopped by the mine's doors. He sighed and looked at me. "Ok…we need to fix this now." He looked at me. "Veselle. The things you've been saying…think about them for a second. Really try to narrow down on exactly what you've said."

And I did. Ok…Pen. Holy Water. Um…did I say anything else? Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. "I'm still not getting it." I shrugged and looked up him. "Just say it, Talvas. If I said something…and it's making you uncomfortable…just let it out."

He sighed. "Ok…were you talking about Kyuu's penis?"

"His…" That made me stop. "penis…" I grabbed my face in horror as I replayed the conversation. Flames started shooting out my body as my embarrassment embraced me. Talvas had to back up, putting up a Frost shell over himself and then putting a containment circle over me, keeping my flames from overwhelming the town. "No…no, no, no, noo…" I started sputtering as I continued replaying the whole conversation. I said… oh no…and then… ack… that was even worse! I was so embarrassed. Flames roared for a mile or higher in the tiny circle as I screamed in shame. And then…with the statement about me taking on a guy… oh no… and then saying Master was hard on me. Man…I really wasn't paying attention to anything I was saying. My flames were burning so hot that they were turning blue and white. When the fire finally started dying down, I was sitting on my knees, still burying my face in my hands as I screamed into my palms.

Talvas nodded. "I guess not. Well…I'm glad that wasn't what I thought it was. Imagine what I would have thought of you if you had been. What were you really talking about?"

I looked up at him, my face burning hotter than the flames that had roared out of me. "I'm not bi!" I screamed to him. "And… and… I'm not like that!" I buried my face into my hands. "We were talking about his pen! It's some writing instrument…like a quill. And then about his past where he was a towering monster that fought in a war and lost his friends due to his unsettling size and bloodstained fur. And then he was attacked from behind by one of his friends, and I compared it to what I would have done if I was going to attack someone. I wasn't saying…I didn't mean…ohh." I sank even lower into my knees, bowing to Talvas. "Please forget this whole thing."

Talvas sighed. "I'll be inside when you feel like joining me." He patted me on the head, which caused a small explosion of fire from me. He pulled his hand away quickly, chuckling. "You sure are hot some days." That drew another smaller explosion from me. He smiled down at me when I looked up at him. "See… it's easy to take what someone says out of context. Try to be more careful." He walked into the mine and I just sat there for a few seconds while I waited for my flushed face and trembling body to quiet down.

After a few minutes, I felt I was ready to try again. So, I stood up and pulled the door to the mine open. I slowly walked into the room to see Talvas talking to some old man. When Talvas saw me, he waved me forward. I quickly walked up to join them. Talvas turned to face me and then to the old man. "Crescius, this is Veselle Tenvanni. She's the newest apprentice. Try not to embarrass her. She tends to explode when you do."

Crescius looked at me and then over to Talvas. "Every girl does. It just means she likes you enough to be straight with you."

Talvas threw a containment bracelet onto my left arm before I could feel any flames pour out of my body. "No…she literally explodes…with fire and stuff. She has a hard time controlling her magicka when she gets stressed, excited…embarrassed." He looked at me. "I guess it's just good luck I had this old bracelet. It should prohibit any further explosions." He looked back at me. "Where's your necklace?"

I shrugged. "Um…I don't really wear it anymore. It's not like my flames really set anything on fire anymore. Only things I'm mad at." I glared at him.

He nodded. "You're keeping that bracelet on." He looked back at Crescius. "Anyway, we'll go and see what we can about clearing the mine out of the frostbite spiders. And…you want us to deal with some draugr?"

Crescius nodded. "Yes. I tried to go down there, but it's just too dangerous. Be careful, though. My great-grandfather died in these mines…and I wouldn't want you two to join him as a burial in these ruins." The old man walked away from us, sitting on a table in a darkened corner of the room that was only lit by a small oil-lit lamp. The shadow his face was cast upon by the light of the burning flame looked eerie as he glared down at the small flame. "You know…the way he died… the company said it wasn't their fault… that he died of an accident. I never believed them." I heard some bumps on the roof above us, and the old man held up a finger while glancing up at the ceiling. "You hear that? It's the ghosts of the ones that died here…from unnatural causes… that I could prove… if I could find my great-grandfather's journal."

"Right…" Talvas drawled on as he looked from Crescius over to me. "Ok, Veselle. Let's kill the spiders and draugrs so we can go home."

"Twinkle, twinkle fallen star… how I wonder how far down the rabbit hole you are…" Crescius sang to a little skull in his hands that he petted as he rocked back in forth in his little corner. His empty stare looked up from the skull up to me. His mouth contorted into some weird sneer that looked sinister and just plain wrong. "Down below the mine so deep…all who enter, their blood shall seep."

Talvas grabbed my arm. "Ignore him, Veselle. He's old, paranoid…and senile."

I felt so scared that I could swear that I just ate a bad patch of ice cream. "Ah-huh…sure." I replied as Talvas pulled me to the small board of wood leading down to the mine. I looked over the railing and saw just how far down the mine went. I accidentally kicked a bone that had been resting near the entrance to the mine. It fell from the edge of the floorboard I was leaning over. I paused as I watched it fall. When I couldn't see it anymore, I didn't hear it hit anything. Then…after ten or more seconds, I heard it hit something, and just like that, I heard some shuffling from whatever was down there, and some barking. Barking? What barks? "Twinkle, twinkle fallen star, how I wonder how far gone you are…"

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_What did you think of the ominous ending? The little song and the way he acts all paranoid, creepy, and stuff. I'm good at over-exaggerating characters like that. But that song...wow, when I thought of it, I thought of the actual quest and it matches pretty well to what happens.  
_


	9. Crypt picnic

**Cearbhail**:

__Ok, so I've been busy. You know, going to Japan and all that coming up soon. Had to book a hotel room for my three day vacation in Tokyo after my Shimane University course ends. Well, I didn't really know what to do for this chapter, but it wrote itself, and because someone requested some romance between Veselle and Talvas, which I was always going to do... just later on, I sneaked some in for you guys. Nothing serious but it's still nice.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_I don't know what day it is anymore. It was the 18th when we came to this mine. There was a small ladder and I was walking down it. Then Crescius threw a key at me, it bounced off my head, and I slipped off the end of the small ladder. Talvas grabbed onto my staff and he struggled to pull me up, but my hand slipped off my staff and I fell off the platform. I fell, and fell fast. I don't remember what happened, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying on my stomach at the bottom of the mine. Talvas is nowhere to be seen. I'm scared. I don't like this. But…even still. We were hired to clear the mines and I guess I will just have to do this on my own. I wish I had someone with me. I don't even see Kyuu. I hope he didn't die when I fell. I can't summon him for a day or so when he dies like that._

_I guess I need to continue on._

_Veselle._

_…_

I closed my book and slipped it into my back pouch. It vanished as it entered the small astral portal leading to some dimensional thing I didn't really know about yet. Master tried to explain it to me, but it was way above what I can comprehend yet. Either that or he just can't explain it correctly. When I asked for a dumbed down version, he pulled out a carrot and explained what a carrot was. "This is a carrot." I nodded when he said it. "Carrots grow in the ground." I nodded again. "This carrot came from a spectral part of the onmiverse where two centuries ago, the war between the Ayleids and the Nuances was quietly extinguished due to the potato shortage in the Bosmer Equivalence Exchange Program. This is important because the carrot represents the edges of the omniverse: thick on one end, skinny on the other, it is easy to realize exactly how the omniverse works, while simultaneously working against the dimensional rift brought on by the potato shortage of 2e 119. Dreadful year; went back in time to see it myself. How the omniverse was created and all that."

Even thinking about it now made my head hurt. He was good at teaching magic because he threw me face first into it. Unless he decided to chuck me inside my own pouch, I doubt I'd ever understand how the whatever it was called worked. I looked up the massive hole that I had fallen down. I could see a network of wooden platforms above me; a couple floors' worth. It looked like I fell down a mile worth of mine channels. I looked down at the patch of dirt where I hit. I saw the remnants of a circle that had covered me and faded away. The slight patterns reminded me of the levitator. That would mean that someone slowed down my descent. That would explain why I'm not dead. And why I don't have any broken bones.

The key that Crescius threw at me lied next to my boots. So, I bent down to pick it up. I looked around. There was a ramp leading up to the rest of the mine. I was half-heartedly ready to just turn around and leave, but…something was nagging me. I felt this little…tickle on the back of my neck and whatever I was feeling was drawing me toward the large hole behind me. The hole in the wall behind me was sloppily boarded up with some boards of wood. And I felt compelled to keep going. I don't know what _it_ was, but _it_ was calling me. _It_ wanted me to find it.

I walked up to the boards of wood and snapped my hand out. Magicka started glowing all around me and I launched it forward at the hole. Flames roared off my body, easily consuming the boards of wood. After a few seconds, the boards burnt to ash and I stepped into the hole. I found a small room with an iron door. I looked down at the key in my hands. I needed this key…to unlock _that_ door. And I just stepped up to the locked door and in a haze…I unlocked the door. I pulled the door open and looked ahead. A small dingy crypt lied beyond, and I could smell the rotten flesh. I bet this was where the draugr lived.

"Veselle!" I heard Talvas scream through the air. He sounded frightened. "Veselle!" He cried louder. "Where could she be? This is where she should have landed."

"She's not dead." I heard Kyuu's voice. "I would know."

"Veselle!" Talvas cried and I saw him poke his head through the hole. When he saw me, he looked so relieved. He ran up to me, wrapping me up in a hug. "Thank the gods, you're alive." He was actually squeezing me hard enough to kill me if he didn't release me soon, so I patted him on the back, trying to scream in pain.

"Talvas? Can't breathe!" I cried as loudly as I could through my crushed windpipe. I started pushing him away, but he kissed me on the forehead before I could break contact with him. That stunned me to where I stopped pushing. His warm lips lingered on my forehead for a few seconds before I felt him break contact and back up. "What? What was _that_ for?" My voice barely even registered to me, and I still felt stuck in my spot as I felt the warm spot on my forehead where he kissed me.

He hugged me closer again. "I thought you had died." He said softly to me before letting me break loose from him. I took a few steps back, but he just looked at me and smiled. He finally sighed and said, "I don't know what I would have done if I found you lying dead on the ground."

I continued to stand there. There was something in his eyes, some…I don't know what to call it. But it was creeping me out, so I ignored it. "Right." I said, trying to draw us back onto our mission. "I found this door."

He nodded. "Right, but our job was to clear the mine. I just did that while trying to find you." He reached out to grab my arm. "And that means our job is done. Let's go tell Crescius the good news." I felt that… whatever it was at the nip of my neck again. It felt like something was standing behind me, trying to grab me by my shoulders and pull me deeper into the mine. When Talvas turned around and tried to pull me with him, my feet stayed rooted to the ground. He paused as I didn't move. "Veselle. We're done. Just lock up that door and we can go back."

I shook my head. "Talvas…I feel something. It's deep inside the mine. I… I think we're not done. We haven't even found Crescius's great-grandfather's journal either."

He arched his eyebrows. "Oh yeah…he did mention something about that, didn't he." He mumbled and looked away. He sighed and started walking to the open cage door, handing me my staff back. "Well, let's go. Stay behind me and cover my back. I'll take the front." Kyuu smiled and jumped onto my shoulder. _I'm glad you're ok, partner._

I followed behind him as we started walking through the ankle deep murky puddles into the obvious crypt. I looked around at the bed slabs where bones of ancient Nords rested. Some of the decomposed bodies still had skin and muscle on them, their bodies carefully glazed over with some ancient oil that preserved their bodies, as well as their souls. We called these creatures draugrs. They were still perfectly preserved, if not a bit rotten and bony from centuries of natural degradation of their muscular system. Their souls had become feral, their minds only fixed on attacking whatever they saw that wasn't one of them. They waited for us, they wanted to consume us. They were always hungry, always angry, and always patient. They could stand in one spot for years without moving, hoping to find some lonely traveler to feast on. And I hoped we didn't end up a meal.

We traveled silently through the crypt. The silent draugr didn't move from their spots. Kyuu waited patiently on my shoulder as we snuck through the underground cavern. And we stayed like that for a few minutes; quiet as we carefully stepped through the ankle deep puddles. I wanted to avoid them altogether, but doing that would put me within sniffing range of the draugr. I didn't need them smelling my honey-scented shampoo that I used on my hair. I was carefully trying to keep up with Talvas, who was standing straight up. "Wait…what are we doing?" He asked as loudly as he could. When he did, I heard some moaning and some of the draugr started rustling from their stone slabs.

"What are _you_ doing?" I whispered to him.

He looked back at me, smiling. "We're supposed to be killing them. What was I thinking?"

I didn't have time to argue with him because he was already snapping his head around to fight a few draugrs stepping off their stone slabs. A few ice spikes flew into their chests and they stopped trying to stand up. Talvas didn't stop there though. He actually walked up and started freezing their heads, snapping them off the necks. I guess that was a sound strategy, behead them. I didn't have time to say anything to him. I heard footsteps behind me; sloshing through the puddles I had just trudged through. I turned around to see a few draugr running up to me, raising their swords as they charged up to me.

"Kyuu!" I cried out. He nodded and jumped off my shoulder. "Um… Strategy 3 D." I said to him and he nodded. You see, in our time training with Master, and I had been forced to work with Kyuu as my fighting partner, we had to come up with several different strategies to fight different kinds of enemies. Plan 3 D was a Defensive plan, as all D plans were. Plan 3s are a variation of using Wards and Kyuu's Telekinesis to help throw off our opponents. He mostly watches my back while I push the attack with my flames and my staff.

And that's exactly what we did. As the first draugr took a swing at me, Kyuu hopped up where the other draugr couldn't reach him and he raised his long ears. The draugr's sword suddenly curved away from me; making him surprised and giving me an opening. I stuck out my hand and tried to pull as much restraint as possible as I collected fire into my palm. I formed it into a ball and let it go. A normal looking firebolt flew out of my hand, slamming into the draugr's chest. The armor covering its chest absorbed the impact, but not before it was launched off its feet and into another draugr behind me. I took my staff and snapped it over the draugr's head. The head bounced off the ground once, but the draugr didn't get back up. I must have killed it with the slam. I turned my attention to the next draugr coming at me. As he came close, he was suddenly lifted off his feet and into a wall. The dead draugr's sword launched from the ground, impaling the pinned draugr to the wall. He groaned for a few seconds before the sword flew straight up, slicing the very thing in half. I had to admit, having Kyuu to help me was wonderful.

I jumped past those two dead draugrs into the nest of six more running up to greet me. I let my martial arts training take over as I rolled past a spear thrust. I came right underneath the draugr's legs, jumping up as his buddies started attacking me. I put my back to the draugr behind me and waited. An archer was taking aim at me, while two more sword wielders came at me. They slashed and I danced around their sluggish attacks. Say what you want about how scary draugr look; they were slow and brainless. Mjoll fought me with so much speed and ferocity, as well as well-planned attacks; while Karliah taught me graceful dodging and evasion. Together, they turned me into a one-girl army. And now I had magicka to help me balance out. Sure, I wasn't strong, and I didn't use any real weapons…but now my hands were legitimate weapons. And my staff.

I threw my back to the spear carrier and waited. The brainless draugr didn't even notice their buddy behind me. The archer released his arrow and I ducked under it. It slammed right into the spear carrier and I took that as my cue. I ran forward as the archer started reaching for a new arrow. I ran right up to the draugr with the sword. I planted my foot on his kneecap and pushed down while enforcing it with some flames. That's right; I can use flames through my feet. Jealous? His friend started coming at me with his massive claymore. I stuck out my hand and blasted him back with some telekinesis. He tripped on his own feet, falling straight down. His claymore just happened to land right in his head because I forced it to land there with my spell. Yeah…I'm getting the hang of this. Give me time and I'll be a great mage after all.

But…that telekinesis drew most of my concentration. The sword wielder may have crumbled underneath my flaming foot, but he still had his sword. And he got me. He slashed at my outstretched hand and he scored a hit with the very tip of his blade. It sliced right through a part of my arm, cutting me pretty deep too. And I lost all concentration as my arm lit up in pain. I jumped back as blood started dripping down my sleeve and down my hand. I stopped like an idiot to look at it and I heard the archer's bowstring pull back. I looked in time to see the archer release his arrow. I was so frozen I didn't know what to do. The downed draugr suddenly flew up and right into my face. And just like that, I was splattered with the draugr's blood as an arrow flew through his eyeball, stopping just an inch from my forehead.

"You ok, Veselle?" Kyuu called from above me. "I'm running on low here. I can't do this for much longer."

I heard more draugr running up to meet me and I looked down at my arm. Blood was still gushing out but slower now. I tried to make a fist with my injured arm but it was still pretty shaken up so I couldn't do it. I couldn't hold onto my staff like this. So, I did what I could. I reached up and tried to pull Talvas's arm bracelet off my left arm. It was hard with my hurting arm to grasp, but I had it off before more draugr got to me. Right as the archer pulled back another arrow and the other three sword wielders ran up to cut me down, I screamed out in pain and rage. Fire roared all around me and I pushed it forward. I wanted my flames to kill that archer and anyone in the way of getting to him. My flames rolled off my body, consuming everything within my sight. The draugr probably didn't last too long but I kept willing more and more fire to continue flying out. An arrow whizzed through the flames, missing my ear by a few inches and I stuck my left hand out, my staff already glowing with flames. I pushed it forward and a cyclone of fire launched from my staff, rolling through my already building wall of flames.

The fire in my staff started dying down after a few seconds, and I was left there panting in pain as I waited for the flames to die down. And it did in a minute or so. I meanwhile, sat there with blood dripping down my injured arm. I was trying to use my healing spells, but I… I couldn't focus enough to fix it. Kyuu jumped down from his perch as he could see that all the draugr were gone. And they were. They were nothing more than charred bones scattered across the floor.

"Veselle!" Talvas cried out as he ran over to me. "What happened?" He saw the charred room just beyond me. Then he saw my bleeding arm and went straight for it. He grabbed onto my hand and brought my arm up for inspection. He brought up his other hand and started feeding Restoration magic into my arm. It felt warm and tingly, but it also felt nice. It felt like an angel was kissing my arm and healing it. When the warm feeling disappeared, I felt Talvas's hand still holding gently onto mine. He was looking at my arm, sighing. "It will leave a scar, but…it doesn't look too bad." He looked at Kyuu. "Why didn't you heal her?"

Kyuu sighed. "I ran out of magicka. That last arrow would have killed her, but I diverted it at the last second. It took everything I had." So, that arrow that had whizzed past my ear was actually supposed to kill me. That shook me up.

Talvas looked from him to me. "And you're no better off on magicka, are you?"

I found myself shaking my head, still looking down at Talvas's hand. It felt so warm in mine that I almost didn't want him to let go. I looked at my arm, still seeing the blood drying on my sleeve, my hand still red with my blood. And Talvas was holding onto it, even though it was covered in blood. My blood. That was my blood. I couldn't get it out of my head. My blood. I had seen a lot of it before. I had been dying, an arrow in my stomach back in Riften. It stained my clothes, and my doorway. I had slid against my door when the whole thing had passed, and there had been a lot of blood on my back that I didn't notice. When I slid down my door to relax…I had rubbed all that blood onto my door. It was a constant reminder of how I almost died that day in Riften. I never wanted to see it ever again. And here it was…covering my whole arm and the end of my sleeve.

"Veselle, are you ok?" Talvas asked me as he squeezed my hand.

I looked up at him. He looked so concerned that I couldn't answer him. But I think he saw me blushing because he brought up his other hand to my forehead. And my heart raced. Why? Why was it doing this to me? I was suddenly thinking of that kiss Talvas gave me not too long ago and how it felt just as warm as his hand felt against my forehead now. My face started burning and Talvas noticed it. "You're running a fever. We need to take a break; catch our breath and get our magicka back." He looked at Kyuu. "Are you hungry?"

He nodded. "Boy, am I!" He cried as he jumped onto my lap. "Are we going to eat?"

Talvas nodded. "Yeah, let's take a break and get something to eat before we press on." He reached up for his backpack and slung it off his shoulder. He set out a picnic blanket in front of us, after brushing away what was left of a draugr's arm away from us. He set out the blanket and brought out some paper plates and a bowl for Kyuu. We always bring food with us for when we needed breaks. Talvas brought out two apples and cut them up, throwing them in Kyuu's bowl with an egg for his protein. Kyuu loved eggs and apples, and for some reason he loved to combine the two into his meals. I thought it was disgusting, but apparently foxes love eggs so…Kyuu loved it. He dug right into the bowl, happy as could be.

Talvas handed me an apple and I silently took it from him. I was still thinking about his hand and that kiss. I took a bite of the apple, happy to know that I wasn't dreaming or anything. Talvas was really sitting here with me, eating an apple. We carried a couple eggs for Kyuu, but Talvas only really carried apples and grapes with us. Sure, he had a few ash yams, but I'd just as well stay away from those for now on. He quickly finished his apple and took out an ash yam. He started passing it to me, but I shook my head and took another bite of my apple.

"Come on…it's not so bad. You should try it with jelly, or honey. That would make it taste better." Talvas nudged the yam in my face.

I knocked it away. "Maybe later. I'm not really hungry." And I wasn't. We just ate maybe a few… wait… how long was I out anyway? I looked up at Talvas. "How long was I down here for while you looked for me?"

"An hour maybe?" He suggested. "I had to fight through a nest of frostbite spiders to get to you, you know. They just kept coming." Spiders? Good thing I hadn't been around for that part. I'm scared of spiders. And I think it showed on my face because Talvas smiled. "No worries, I killed them all. It was part of the assignment after all." He started spreading honey on the yam, taking a bite of it, over exaggerating how tasty it was as he offered me a bite. I still shook my head and went back for another bite of my apple.

We sat there for a couple minutes eating apples in silence. I got through two apples before Talvas pulled out a thermos filled with juniper juice. He poured me a small cup and passed it to me, while taking some for himself. I was so glad I started up my own garden. Eating only ash yams and canis root tea would get so old so fast. I kept thinking about the things Talvas did that I couldn't take not talking about it. "Um…Talvas?"

"Yeah?" He asked as he finished his cup of juice.

I thumbed my cup for a few seconds trying to think about what I wanted to ask. I sat there for so long that Kyuu answered. "She's wondering why you kissed her." He stated in-between bites of his food. "She won't stop thinking about how warm you were…it's really cute but kinda annoying at the same time."

"Kyuu!" I yelled, looking at him as he went back to eating. I looked from him over to Talvas, who just sat there, drinking another round of juice. Wait…that didn't look like juice. And the smell…that was sujamma. Alcohol. "Are…are you drinking sujamma?"

He nodded. "Yup. Need to calm my nerves." He said. "This place…I hate being in closed spaces deep underground. Ever hear of claustrophobia?" I shook my head. I had never heard of it. "Well, if I'm in a place that is small and surrounded by walls, I start feeling like I'm trapped and that I might die or something. So, I'll start freaking out and trying to escape. But…sujamma helps me override that fear. And it helps me lower my inhibitions." He said as he reached out for my cheek, brushing the backside of his hand against it. "Like touching your cute little face." It was then that I could tell just how slurred his words were. He was drunk! That's why he was acting this way. Damn alcohol. Root of all uncertain advances. He might not like me at all, but his drunken mind was telling him different. Figures. I almost wanted to kill him now. Talvas had leaned closer, gently grabbing me by my chin, pulling me towards him. "And those lips…"

My heart raced and my face flushed over as I thought of what I could do. We were inches away and I…I… I closed my eyes and felt my lips pucker up as I felt Talvas's breath on my face. Then something inside me snapped and I pushed him off me. "No!" I screamed to him. "You're drunk…this isn't right." I stood up and started putting the plates and stuff back into his pack. Talvas was still lying on his back, grabbing his head as if he was having a split headache. My heart was still racing and I felt that feeling on my face, my lips still ready to meet his. I…I couldn't think about this right now. We had a mission to complete. I took Talvas's thermos from him, sniffing it. A strong smell of sujamma flew right up my nose and it burned my eyes to the point where I started crying. I screwed the lid back on and threw it in the backpack. I was tempted to dump it out and throw the thermos away, but…I thought about his claustrophobia. I don't know what would happen later on, how much further in we would need to go. And I don't know how he would take it. Too many variables. And right now…I need him as sane as possible. Just not drunk as possible.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone even think that Talvas might be drunk the whole time? I hadn't really intended for it, but when I reread the chapter for problems, I noticed that Talvas could have been drunk the whole time, so I didn't change it. I actually think he started drinking while Veselle was having her conversation with Kyuu. Hearing that will make any man drink to forget things. And...don't think the quest is over yet. if you've played it, you know it's only started. I'm guessing five chapters for this, probably less though. Can't wait for the boss. Don't know what I'll do for that, but I'll try to make it epic, like I've done so many times in the past for other stories._


	10. Inquianari

**Cearbhail**:

__Yup, next day delivery. I really wanted to keep up the flow while I still had it. I might just continue until this entire quest is done. If I post one tomorrow and it's this story and not Chronicles of Ruby then you know that for certain. Anyway, I had so much fun writing this.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_So, we've had a small break. I got to use my martial arts for a real fight for once. I mean, sure I've used it against Mjoll and Karliah but I've never actually had a real life or death brawl with monsters. I had to stand up to several draugr while Talvas unleashed his drunken spellcaster art form. Yeah, that's right. Talvas is drunk. He's afraid of close spaces so he keeps himself intoxicated to the point where he doesn't worry about things. It makes him louder, less cautious about touching me, and really really excited to fight things._

_Oh yeah, about him touching me thing. He seems to enjoy hugging and kissing me while he's in this state. Not that I really mind, well, not really I guess. But it's just that he's drunk and… whatever he's feeling isn't real, and I don't want fake stuff, you know? But either way, we got in a fight with some draugr and I got cut pretty bad. Talvas healed me…held my hand, tried to kiss me. And then I pushed him off me. He passed out and so… we just sort of slept here over night. I can tell by the watch on his wrist. It's actually 01:23, the 19th of Second Seed. Once he wakes up, we'll get him doped up and ready to continue this quest. We still have a mine to clear out._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and stuffed it away. I looked over at Talvas, who I had to wrap up in a blanket earlier when he passed out after eating too much. It amazes me the things he keeps in his backpack. I actually had to look inside to see just how much stuff we had. A few blankets, two thermoses (one sujamma and one juniper juice), ten or more apples, a pound of grapes, two more eggs, a crystal ball for communicating with Master in case we needed help, a single pillow, and a crystal quartz wand. I'm guessing that was for drawing circles that we might need later on. So, I had pulled out a blanket for him and a pillow and pretty much adjusted him until he was comfortable.

And it wasn't easy. He kept wrapping me up in his arms and hugging me to him like I was a teddy bear or something. It took real effort to escape his grasp and make sure he was properly swaddled in his blanket. I used to see drunks in Riften all the time. If you don't swaddle them, they just get up and walk around, usually for the worst. They were worse than babies, they were drunken babies. And Talvas was no different. He snored loudly all night long. Shortly after Talvas went to sleep, I released Kyuu so that he could sleep in Aetherius. So…I was all alone in a dark crypt while my drunken partner slept all night long. I thought about drawing a circle around us and getting some sleep as well, but I was afraid. I can admit it. I know circles work, but what if I woke up and found a hundred or so draugr surrounding us? I mean, I could fry them, but what about Talvas? I might fry him too by accident if I did that.

So, I stayed up while Talvas slept. Well, that was the plan at least. Once we got towards 21:50, I found my eyes closing on themselves and I was sluggishly rocking side-to-side. So, I pulled out a blanket and lied down. I don't really know what happened but I felt warm. And I wrapped myself around that warmth. I heard light snoring and opened my eyes. I had somehow ended next to Talvas, my arms wrapped around him. He was still swaddled so he hadn't moved. That meant when I was tired that I had lied down next to him and fallen asleep. My head had been resting on his shoulder as a pillow. I must admit…it felt nice. And it was warm, so I just…drifted off again. It was around 01:10 that I woke up and started writing my journal entry. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I could feel it again… that icky feeling that something was reaching out for me.

As I looked down the hallway to the chamber beyond, I could sense something was looking for me, reaching out for me to take it. Whispers in the dark called for me and I couldn't turn my ear away. Whatever it was…it wanted me to find it. And I intended on it. Whatever it was…I had to know what for sure. So, I started looking around for stuff to do while Talvas slept. Kyuu was still sleeping so I didn't want to wake him up. He said he'd tell me when he woke up; and I've yet to hear him say anything to me. The crypt had gotten colder as the night progressed. There was the constant cold breeze that passed through, and for once I wished I had a huge coat to wear over my clothes. I wasn't wearing my robes anymore. Since they got slashed up earlier today and Kyuu ran out of energy to fix them, I had to switch to my personal clothes. So, I was wearing basically a tunic and a skirt, instead of my layered robes that flowed down to my feet. Even so…my robes were still basically a dress and I doubt I'd be any warmer than I was right now…just more protection from the draft on my bare legs. My legs were freezing. My arms were too. I looked at the scar that had formed on my arm. How long would that stay there? I'm sure I could find a spell to remove it completely.

Occasionally, I would look at Talvas. He'd groan and try to shift to his side, but my swaddling proved too effective. He was locked in his spot. That was a problem though. If he vomited…he could drown on his own bile. So I would make sure to look at him to make sure he wasn't drooling out his mouth. He didn't. He just snored, groaned, and mumbled in his sleep. A few more minutes would pass by and I'd find myself leaning against a wall covered in cobwebs and mold. I'd drift off for a few seconds, but then I'd hear something…some shifting of stones, or the sounds of draugr shuffling on bedrock…the occasional barking that draugr make. It sounded like they weren't too far away, but I wasn't going to search them out. I wanted Talvas by my side when I continued on. And hopefully we'd find this thing before too long. Whatever I was feeling. I yawned for a second before my vision blurred. I found my eyes closing and I thought I saw something in the distance. A shadow or something.

…

I don't know where I was, but I was standing on a platform, surrounded by bubbling tar. The platform looked like it was a net made up of black tar strings. The tar that bubbled right underneath me looked poisonous, ready to consume me if I fell for a second. There was a feeling…I had felt it before. The gnawing feeling on my neck, that feeling that someone was watching me, toying with me. I looked up at the sky. The sky was tinted with a dark sick green/yellow/even orange skyline. Bubbles of tar floated in the sky above me like they were clouds or something. _Welcome to my library..._ I heard a heavy grinding, oozing voice call from the back of my neck, like whoever said it was leaning over the back of my neck, craning their mouth to my ear as they whispered a greeting to me. I felt tentacles wrap around me, holding me in my place as they slithered around. I was so frightened. If I moved, I didn't know what they would do. Would they tighten? Would they pull me apart? I didn't know.

_It isn't often I see a fresh young face in my library…_ The voice continued to call from behind me as the feeling of tentacles continued to slither all around me, constricting around my arms, around my neck, around both my legs. It was like a giant constrictor boa made up of a massive tentacle had wrapped itself around my entire body, just tight enough to keep me locked in my spot. It ended around my neck, the very tip brushing against the ear where I heard the light whisper of whoever had contacted me. I tried to look down, but I didn't see anything wrapping around me, but I could still feel it. _Knowledge… is that what you seek? A clue… to a mystery? What would someone like you offer in payment to such knowledge? How would you change your fate…your timeline? Would you destroy the very fabrication of webs laid out?_ The voice started growling at me, the tentacle around my neck constricting. I could feel my windpipe closing off and I tried to raise my hands to pull whatever was around my neck off me, but they wouldn't move from their spot. _Destroy all I've set in place? All the years of planning, conniving? You are not the one I seek, but an intruder. You are not Dragonborn. You aren't even the one to bring him to me. You are but a puppet…a figment… a bleep on the eternal calendar. What knowledge could I possible offer such an… impudent child such as yourself? What do you offer in return? What memories are you willing to share? What knowledge has someone like you obtained?_

I was frozen in fear but my thoughts were starting to spill from my head. I could see my birth, my first couple years growing up, my mother's face… my father. My entire childhood flashed before my eyes, and finally the day when father was locked up for stealing a ring. I was left alone for a couple months, always visiting him. The memory of Mehrunes Maven appeared in my head and the image froze. _Hmm…this is interesting._ The memory started playing out and then I heard the Vermeister calling for me. _Very interesting._ The creepy voice called from inside me. The tentacle wrapped around my neck started to loosen and then it slid into my ear…which felt really, really weird. The memory played out, the Vermeister summoning itself and killing the Aldmeri Dominion agents sneaking up on Ruby and Maleek. _Friends with my enemy… it would figure._

The memory of the battle faded away and it started speeding up through the month of me learning how to make enchantments to make money. I saw my father's funeral and then I packed some clothes and whatever coins I had made. I left Riften and went to Raven Rock to find Master Neloth. I could feel a tear forming on my cheek as I spent my first night in Talvas's room, holding a tiny cake that I had snuck in from Raven Rock. I sung myself a 'happy birthday' song, blew out the candle and cried myself to sleep. That's when I had my first lesson the next morning about learning flames. _A Telvanni mage? Student of the man I wish to ensnare. His brain…is filled with much knowledge I seek. And he will bring me the one I want. The Dragonborn._ My brain rattled like someone was fiddling around with it. I could see this… I'm going to call it a floating tar pit filled with a thousand blinking eyes and a million tentacles. It was floating around inside me, all those eyes looking at my memories and all my emotions. I could feel a tentacle slide down from inside my brain down to my heart, wrapping around it. _Such pain for one so young…yet, not nearly as much as those I've met recently. Nothing to learn from you in that department._

I started trying to fight my constricted body. "Let…me…go!" I tried to scream but as I started to say anything, I felt a tentacle slide up my throat and push through my mouth. It was so thick that I couldn't breathe and I couldn't even form words. I tried to bite down…or at least raise my constricted arms, but I couldn't do anything. _Silence._ The voice slithered through my head and the tentacle pulled back inside me. More memories flicked by, my entire training up to this point…and then…some flashes of stuff I hadn't seen yet. A…pillar? I don't know what to call it. The entire town was working on it, mumbling nonsense phrases. I was lying in bed, coughing up blood, Master Neloth standing over me. My face looked completely fallen in. I looked older… like it couldn't be tomorrow or anything. "Just hang in there Veselle." Master said as he placed a damp towel on my head. "I will find this…Miraak, and put an end to this war of his." _Ah…just the outcome I require. You have been set down the path already. And now… I offer a trade. You must never mention this to anyone, and in return, you will return alive…with a gift._

The tentacles released me and I fell to the floor. You know that moment when you fall asleep and you 'fall'? You know, where you feel like you're falling but then you snap awake and find yourself still in your bed? That's what happened. I fell and woke up jerking awake. I was still leaning against the wall, and Talvas was still snoring in his little swaddled wrapping. I thought the whole thing was a dream until I felt something in my hands. I looked down to see a book in my hands. It was dark green like the bubbling tar that was beneath the platform I was trapped on in my dream. On the cover of the book was a sigil for the gate of Oblivion. So…it was a Conjuration book? Should I open it? It was a gift so…why not?

I cracked it open, just to take a peek. I got to stop doing that. The book snapped open to page one and started flipping through all the pages on its own. My eyes darted around every symbol as the pages flipped by. Just as quickly as the book snapped open, all the pages had flicked by and everything inside the book was lodged inside my head. Unlike with the flames spell, this one was pretty simple. The knowledge itself was a contract with a Daedra Seeker. The entire book just laid down the terms and conditions for conjuring the creature. It was a long distance tank. It lacked the capacity to move quickly so it was best used when we had a lot of distance to our target. It attacked by throwing waves of air/electric magicka that acted like a solid wall of pain. And that was all I really needed to know. One seeker was assigned to me: name was Inquianari. Bit of a bookworm, know-it-all, and somewhat a never stopping talker. I should know, I heard all about him in the book.

Talvas was still sleeping, and Kyuu was still resting in his plane, so I figure… eh, why not? I warmed up the portal magic and visualized Inquianari. I willed a connection between him and me, and I released the portal. The portal flew off my palm growing bigger than me, turning dark purple as it ripped open. I heard a growling sound as the seeker drifted through the portal, closing behind it. It looked so…squidly. I mean, it was a massive well…mass of a round bulbous body wrapped in a ghastly sheet or cape, heck I can't tell. It had two really long arms that drifted further down than its floating body. It had no legs that I could see, and its entire head was comprised of tentacles like an octopus, with two beady eyes. The seeker was just standing there with a book levitating near its eyes.

When it didn't say anything I nodded to it. "Um…hi. I'm Veselle. I'm your um…partner?" Inquianari looked at me for a second before looking back at his book. And he stayed like that, his breath sounding like a light purr mixed with a ghostly moan. "So…I guess I should tell you all about me, right?" He just floated there for a few seconds and he continued his purring moan. "Right." I said, clapping my hands. "I'm well… I'm a mage. But I guess you knew that, right? You know, because I can summon you. So…you like books, right? I like books too. Whatcha reading?"

Inquianari glanced at me for a second and then looked back at his book, his moaning continuing. Well…this was not the conversation I intended to have with my new friend. It was like being back with Master Neloth all over again. I sighed as I sat back against the wall. The silence was replaced with the seeker purr/moaning while Talvas snored. I shook my head and tried to close my eyes again. "I wouldn't fall asleep." A scholarly voice that sounded almost like Karliah's whispered into the air. "Too many draugr around." The seeker said to me, returning to his book.

"You sound like a girl." I said to him.

The seeker looked over at me. "We all sound like this. We're all females." The seeker said to me. "What man could possibly be entrusted with acquiring and organizing limitless volumes and tomes of ancient and forbidden knowledge?" She looked at me. "My apologies, Lady Veselle. I was in the middle of my favorite romance and I wanted to finish my chapter before conversing." Her book vanished in thin air. "It really is a wonder tome, but unfortunately, you still have to wait 620 more years until the author writes it." She looked away. "Sadly, you may never know the splendor of being in such a book." She looked at me, sticking out her hand. The same book reappeared and she floated up to me. "I'll let you borrow it, though. You know, just in case you feel like reading it."

I nodded and took it from her. It looked brand new, and she said it was from 600 some years ahead of today. Wow…I was going to read a book before it was ever written. That would mean…I could get her to supply me with books to series that would outlive me before they were ever finished. I liked that idea. Imagine…I would never _not_ know how something ended. My, my. Having that kind of power could drive someone crazy. I squealed at the thought and hugged the book close to me. "Thanks, Inquianari." She nodded in return. "Um…" I looked back up at her. "Mind if I call you Anari? You know, a nickname?"

She nodded to it. "That would be acceptable." She said to me. "However, I do wish to be able to do the same with you. Would be ok for me to call you Elle?"

I nodded. That sounded like a cute nickname. People usually just called me Vess. "Sure, I don't mind that one bit." A smile formed on my face and I stood up, stretching my hands out for a handshake. "I can tell this will be a good partnership."

She took my hand and inspected it for a second before a long tongue snaked out of her mouth. It lapped on my hand a few times, this thick ooze spilling out onto my hand. I held the bile growing in my mouth as I looked up at her. "Hmm…you seem to be a descendant of the ancient Chimer race of elves. I taste fire magicka thick in your aura. You have ancestry steeped in magicka, almost like your family was a strong mage line. You must be quite powerful to be this tasty." She said as she wrapped my hand in her long tongue, running it over my palm and fingers. "Left handed…hmm…martial artist…mmm…favorite food is strawberry yogurt…"

"No it isn't!" I said to her, trying to hide just how disgusted I was. I was trying not to grind my teeth by her slithering tongue that danced on my fingers. "I haven't even had it yet."

Her eyes darted up to mine. "I suggest you try it then. You'll make it your favorite." She started running her tongue across my arm and I forced myself to look away. "You've died once, and healed by an Aedra Lord. You must have been young, because it's faint. Natural conjurer; book reader; strong-willed, a little sassy, headstrong, and…" Her tongue danced on my arm so more, and then it snaked up my arm sleeve to my armpit. I tried to keep myself from laughing as she started licking my armpit. "ticklish." She pulled her tongue away, nodding. "Information gathering complete. I think I know everything about I need to know."

That was her way of getting to know me? I could think of several less invasive, less disgusting methods of acquiring who I was as a person. She could just…ask me.

"Ah-hum…" I heard Talvas clear his throat. I looked over at him to see him staring at me with wide eyes. "Maybe I'm still drunk but…how come I never get to do that to you?" He asked as he opened his thermos and started drinking more sujamma. Oh great…more drunk Talvas. Oh well, I should expect it. He gets scared in enclosed spaces. I guess he needed a quick fix before we started on.

His comment made my face blush madly as I pulled my hand away from Anari. "You ever do anything like that to me and I'll…I'll…" I could think of anything so I warmed up a firebolt and threw it at his face. It launched from my hand, slamming him hard enough to make him slam into the ground with a _thwack._ "I'll do that." I crossed my arms and looked at Anari.

Anari looked at me for a few seconds, tilting her squidly head. "I do not understand. Why would he lick you?"

I refused to answer that, but instead I turned around and started for the next chamber. "Pack up your stuff, Talvas. We're moving on." I looked back at Anari. "Anari…I have a question."

"Of course, mistress." She replied.

"I have this other spirit. Is it possible to have you both out at the same time?"

She stopped in her spot. "I would inquire if you were a real conjurer, but I already tasted that. A conjurer would know that you can summon as many spirits as your magicka control will allow for. You have to maintain the magicka draw for both of them, which for a summoner of a Vermeister, you should have no problem holding even six spirits in our plane for a whole day, depending on how you split up your drain between all six of them. Wouldn't want one spirit receiving all the energy for six spirits while the other five slowly drain until they are forcibly expelled from Mundus into Aetherius…or in my case Oblivion." She paused and then looked at me. "Why would he lick you? Is it to gather information as I have? I do not recall elves having that capability. Should I see about finding more about you by doing a more thorough scan of your deeper functions?"

I didn't even know what she would lick to find that out, so I shook my head. "No, no more licking. Elves don't have that function."

"Then why…"

I sighed. "Because he has this…crush on me and apparently he has plans to use his tongue." I don't even want to think what _he'd_ do with it. And with his increasingly intoxicated state, he just might try. Heck, last night he was trying ever so tactfully to get me to sleep with him. I really had to struggle to get out of that. Heck, even if I may have wanted that…he was still drunk and I didn't want that to be held against us in the long end. Whatever. I'd just smack him upside the head when this whole thing was done. Mjoll taught me how to erase memories by smacking them out with concussions. Talvas would forget this whole adventure soon enough.

By the time I had entered the next chamber, Talvas had sluggishly caught up with me, all our stuff packed away. I looked him in the eyes to see that same creepy stare he gave me yesterday. But now I knew what it was. It was his drunken eyes. They looked unfocused and distant. That's what was so creepy about them. We found ourselves standing in a dark round chamber. Draugr were lining some thrones circling the room, and I knew what that meant. I paused before we completely entered the room. "Talvas." I pushed him back. I pushed Anari as well. "Wait out here." I stepped into the room and just like I thought, when I got halfway inside, both the gates to the entrance and the exit fell down upon me and the unlit torches on the wall started lighting up one by one.

Now…I didn't want Talvas in the way because I wanted to have some fun. I had a rough night and I just got mind-fucked by a tentacle god, and armpit licked by my new spirit. I could still feel that oozy saliva on my armpit. It felt weird. And these draugr that were standing up were my new punching bags. They were stupid and stood up one by one and running at me, waiting until I killed one for the next one to charge in. What were these, honorable draugr? They just waited here, thinking. Ok…Fred goes first, then George, then me if they last this long…then Sally. I couldn't think of a worse hell than being the last one picked…like always. Because he would know that if someone lasted that long…he really stood no chance to win.

So the first draugr ran up and I spun my staff around, cracking it in the skull. It went down and then the second one ran up. I rolled under his legs and stuck my foot right up its crotch. Now, I've heard a Draugr bark, I've heard them growl, and I've heard them talking in their dragon language. I've never heard one go falsetto before and grab its balls as it fell to its knees and pray to Alduin. That was a first. I gave him a mercy kill. I blasted his head off with a firebolt. The other draugr looked less certain of facing me so they all started sitting back down. Now…that wasn't fun for me. So I tipped my staff to the ground and willed my fire rune into the floor. The rune spilled out through the staff and onto the ground. I willed it to expand until it reached the feet of the draugr sitting quietly on their thrones. I could see their teeth chattering as they anticipating what I was going to offer them. "Either you get up and fight me…or I will blow you the fuck up."

I've never seen draugr contemplate things before. But they looked at each other and started talking in dragon speech. "They say they don't understand the cruel mistress's commands." Anari called from the closed gate. "But they suggest it's a die-die situation so they might as well go out in honor. So…it looks like they choose death by whatever cruel punishment you are offering."

"Awesome." I replied and readied my staff…letting the fire rune to dissipate. The ten or so draugr all stood up and ran for me…not one on one this time. I pushed forward, jumping into the air using some magicka in my boots to launch me up. I slammed my boots into two towering draugr running straight for me. I launched flames through both my feet, pushing off them. The two draugrs cried out as they fell down, clawing at their inflamed heads. I was soaring through the air, spinning around and landing gracefully ten or so feet away. Eight more draugr were charging me and I had to think fast. So, I…became invisible. Yeah, I still had that spell charged into my staff. And I used it on myself. And when I disappeared, I whipped around and set a fire rune underneath a draugr. I held enough of my power that when it went off it only blew up the one draugr. It was pretty hilarious actually. One second he's there the next…he's there…and there…and over there…and on the ceiling.

And since I had popped back up, I cracked one draugr on my right in the head, reverse-spinning my staff and cracking the one right next to him. They both went down. I rushed through the rest of the crowd, throwing one with a levitation spell up onto this stalactite thing on top of the ceiling. I left her there. She fell down on her own anyway. I had only one left and so…I had some fun with him. I ran up to him and levitated his skull out of his head. And then I beat him to death with it. It was pretty easy actually. All this time I was thinking of Talvas and his trying to pull up my skirt and fuck me last night when he was drunk off his mind and partially asleep in the blanket I gave him. He wanted head? I'd give him a head. I cracked the draugr's head one more time with its skull, smashing the skull-less draugr's head flat. I dropped the skull on the ground and the doors started opening on their own.

Talvas slowly walked into the room, looking at all the carnage. Anari just floated in; purr/moaning as she glided into the room. "I detect high levels of adrenaline and anger in the air, as well as a tinge of self-abuse and shame." She looked at me. "Mistress, are you ok?"

I was out of breath, and I was splatted with draugr blood, but I nodded, looking down at the smashed draugr. "I'm better now." I looked at Talvas. I picked up the skull and tossed it to him. When he questioned me, I arched my eyebrows. "That's the only head you're getting from me." And I turned to continue on. Ha! That was a great one liner. I bet he'd be lost on that one for a while. Serves him right.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Yup, had some great moments in this one. Hope no one minded the whole... Veselle goes badass martial artist on the draugrs. Like I said, she's growing up quickly and learning how to use both her body and her mind to fight. Having something else on her mind that she's trying to resolve makes a great focuser too. And Anari... she was one of my favorite moments of today. I thought...she needs two spirits. And then I thought... why not make it a Seeker? A know it all spirit that's really intelligent but clueless at the same time. Really shabla clueless. Oh well, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Oh...and Red Vs Blue reference... you know, beat him to death with his own skull. It doesn't seem physically possible!  
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	11. Shared shower

**Cearbhail**:

__Sorry for the delay. My Tomodachi Life game came in the mail and well...I had some fun. And Friday was my birthday. A shaman...having a birthday on a Friday the 13th...during a full moon. yeah, it was something. Went shopping for crystals but didn't find anything that 'spoke' to me, literally. so, I hung out with my niece at an Irish fair instead. I wanted to go roller blading at Presque Isle but it was raining the whole way down so that was out the door. Oh, so I guess I should talk about the chapter right? Um... Veselle and Talvas share a slow motion action scene. And...go.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Where, oh where to begin? Well, last night was something. But we already know about that, don't we? And today was something too. While I was drifting off at one something, I kinda ended up in some…I'm going to call it a place for a lack of any clue as to what it was. I thought it was a dream. This giant tentacle thingy that was completely invisible started crawling up my legs, wrapping them so I couldn't run; then it traveled around my arms, locking me from using them; and then it closed around my neck trying to suffocate me. Then it ended up by my ear and started whispering to me, demanding to know why I was in its lair and all that stuff. It started choking me, threatening me. And then its tentacle slithered through my ear, and I could feel it feeling around my head, in my memories. It made me remember things I didn't want to know and insulted me. And finally it let me leave. I woke up with a Conjuration book. Oh and by the way, I made a contract with a Daedric Seeker named Inquianari. She's cool._

_So, after I made friends with my new contract spirit from Oblivion, Talvas and I continued onward. I 'accidentally' got locked in a combat situation where I had to fight numerous draugrs. I may have enjoyed killing them too much. I just kept thinking about Talvas while I kicked one in the balls, smashed another one in the head with his own skull. After that we continued on killing several other rooms filled with draugrs. I let Talvas lead us while I followed behind him. I wanted a bit of a rest while watching him fight. Once Kyuu wakes up, I can't wait to introduce him to Inquianari. I hope they get along._

_Veselle._

_…_

Ok, so the walk wasn't so bad once I let Talvas take the lead. We traveled through the hallway, and we first passed a small deposit of some eternal ice stalled stralhrim. We left it alone because we wouldn't know what to do with it. He told me if I touched it without special gloves that my entire hand would freeze over and I would slowly become a frostbitten statue covered in ice. I was kinda curious so I almost pushed him into it…but then I'd be all alone in this ruin. But as luck would have it, Anari had a lot to say about stralhrim. She told us all about its origins and how it won't freeze us for eternity for at least an hour. And during that hour we spent it in cover while being shot at by some draugr overlord standing on a bridge over two higher levels with a waterfall behind it. And that's where we were standing right now. Well, that's where I was standing. Talvas was… um… unconscious. Here's what happened.

"And it is because the ancient…" Anari had been drawling on about the ancients this and the ancients that… while telling us about the ancient ice and how it had been discovered for armor and weapons. That ice is what led to the creation of Frost magicka… if you can believe it.

Talvas looked back at us, sipping at his thermos. "Guys…we should be quiet. No idea who we'ee eee eee eeee eeeeeeee…" He squealed as he was suddenly turned into a light-up Talvas. Two soul gem traps had both opened fired at him with electricity and he took it hard. I watched him light up; even saw his skeleton a few times before he launched a few ice spikes at the gems. He hit them and they fell from their pedestals but once the lightning wore off, he collapsed. And as soon as that happened, I head barking up ahead so I went to check it out. There was an open door at the end of the hallway. As soon as I stepped out to take a look what was inside the doorway, an arrow whizzed right past my head. So I ducked back in and tried to formulate a plan. Every time I look back into the room, I see three scary-looking draugrs waiting for me, and one archer who already nipped my twintails a few times. I kept looking at the waterfall. I'm gungy; covered in draugr blood, sweat, filthy muddy water, and Talvas drool. I _really_ want that shower.

_Partner!_ Kyuu called into my head happily. _I'm awake now. Please summon me._ Gladly. I ripped open a portal and Kyuu came bounding out, landing on my lap. "Morning, Veselle!" He chirped to me before looking over at Anari. He pointed to her with one of his tails and said, "What the shab is that? I'm gone for one night and you replace me?"

An arrow flew through the doorway, smashing into the wall. 34. That made 34 arrows all stuck in the wall now. I looked down at Kyuu, who glared up at me with some of the scariest cute light blue eyes I've ever seen. It made me want to pinch his cheeks. And I did so. "Aw, I can't take you seriously when you're mad, Kyuu."

He purred and rolled over on my lap. "Ooh, rub my belly!" He purred as he batted my hand with his paws. So, I tickled his belly while he chirped/laughed.

Anari floated up to us. "My name is Inquianari. I'm a seeker. My Master is Hermeaus Mora. Trust me when I tell you it was not Veselle that sought me out; it was my Master that placed me in her service so I might keep an eye on her during my mission that he has not yet disclosed to me."

"What?" I turned to face her. She was…an agent of that thing that tried to kill me? She was only here because he told her to be here? And she was only here to keep an eye on me? I looked down at Kyuu, who I remembered was only here to feed off of my energy and become stronger, which he maybe already be. And when he grew powerful enough, he might try to kill me and destroy the world. Jeez…I seem to keep making the best of friends in the ethereal worlds. "You're…here to watch me? What does that mean?"

She looked over at me, blinking her eyes. "Am I to inquire that you believe that our contracts with the terms and conditions are limited to only what _you_ want?" She looked at Kyuu. "We have agreed to assist you in combat and anything else you require us to do. We allow ourselves to be put in danger and face numerous deaths on your account…and you expect us to _not_ have our _own_ agendas? I have been assigned to you by my Lord, who wishes to use you for his purposes. He is the Lord of Fate…therefore you cannot escape it no matter how hard you try; he just wants to make sure you uphold part of his plan. And that's why I'm here; to make sure you do not stray from what _he_ wants." She looked over at Kyuu again. "And this creature…I am uncertain of his true purpose."

"I wish to feed off of Veselle's magicka and grow stronger…strong enough to overthrow…" He paused and looked up at me, smiling. "I mean, I wish to grow stronger so that I can show my parents just how stronger I've gotten…and to be of service to my best friend, Veselle." He rubbed up against me. Yeah…I did not believe that for a second. I looked at both of them. So…they were both using me for their own gains… but I guess I was using them too. Quid pro quo, right? Since they both didn't really want to be here to be my friend, I had less worries about sending them out to do their part of the bargain…fight for me.

I looked at Anari and waved her forward. "Ok…so, we need a plan. What do you think we should do?"

She sighed as her eyes started glowing. I don't know what she was doing, but she looked over at me. "I see three draugr scourges with heavy weapons; and draugr overlord with a bow watching the doorway. I could go out and buy you some time to advance. I can teleport pretty quickly, but my attacks are pretty weak. The just hit more opponents at once."

Kyuu looked up at me. "I'm pretty quick and can dodge stuff too…but I'm also weak. But, now I can grow a little bigger and can deal some decent damage…but I'm slower and it really drains me afterwards. I'd be dead after my initial assault."

Ok, so I had Kyuu and the floating brain. Kyuu could move quickly and the brain could hit multiple opponents. Kyuu could transform and deal damage quickly….that's it. I nodded to them. "Ok, I have a plan. Kyuu and Anari, I need the two of you to work together. Anari carry Kyuu with you and teleport up to the balcony where the sniper is. When you get up there, release Kyuu onto him. Kyuu…I need you to grow big and wail on that archer; tear him limb from limb. Anari, I need you to distract/attack the three down low while Kyuu does his thing. I'll charge in and help you with the three draugrs." I looked at everyone. "Ok…are we good then?" They nodded and Kyuu jumped into Anari's hands. They teleported and I turned to run out the doorway.

The archer turned to fire down at me, right as Anari popped up right next to him. Anari released Kyuu and he transformed mid-jump. He landed right on the archer and started tearing into him. The archer pulled his bow up and fired right into the air. It flew right past Kyuu, drawing blood from his ear, and hitting Anari right in the head. Anari released this sound of gas and she exploded. I don't know what happened, but she faded away. She must have died. Poor Anari. Now she can't spy on me for a day. Kyuu started shrinking down already. The archer shrugged him off and Kyuu jumped off him. The archer pretty much kicked him through the air and back over to me. I grabbed Kyuu as he fell from the ceiling, turned around, and raced for the doorway. Three arrows smacked the wall right beyond me as we rolled back into my safe spot. Ok…that plan failed.

"Uugh…" Talvas said as he started stirring. "What…what happened?" He said as he looked over at me. Oh well…so much for my shower. He stood up and walked over to me, rubbing his head like it was split in two. He opened his thermos and started drinking again. Jeez…just how much sujamma does he have anyway? He nodded to me as he closed his lid. "Hey pigtails." He said, pulling on my left twintail. "What's up?"

I knocked his hand away from my hair and gestured to the doorway beyond me. "We have a strong archer beyond the doorway up on a balcony, being covered by three heavy weapon draugr scourges." I looked up at him for any sign of intelligent life. I didn't see any.

He nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok…here's how we're going to do this." He looked at Kyuu. "Ok, Kyuu. I need you to do a really epic wall run that looks amazing. That will distract at least one of the heavy fighters. If you can, shoot some fire around at the archer, maybe blind him or something." Then he looked down at me. "Ok, Veselle. I know you're going to hate this but…we're going to have to act cool for a scene and act like we know what we're doing…while in slow motion." What? What type of plan was that? He grabbed me by my shoulders and nodded. "This will work. Just…flow with me. Ok?" Flow? What the heck was he talking about? "Ready?" Ready for what? "Go!" He pushed me forward and we rushed into the room.

And it seemed like we were really running in slow motion. Kyuu ran right onto my shoulder and pushed off, landing on the wall to our left, running alongside it. Talvas was ahead of me running so slowly that I barely could believe this was really happening; and I was sprinting beside him trying to keep up. The archer released an arrow and pulled back another. I watched as the arrow slowly raced right for me. Talvas jumped in front of me, ducking. He grabbed me by my legs and picked me up. He tossed me in the air and I watched as the arrow flew right between us like he planned it. And I was able to keep track of the stuff happening all around us. He was right…this slow motion action rocked! At the same time, one of the heavy wielders slashed at me. Kyuu jumped from the wall, flying right into the draugr's face. One fireball later, we had a distracted draugr. Kyuu jumped off his head before any of the other heavies tried to take him.

I was still falling; Talvas stepping up to the distracted draugr. He stuck out his hands and launched two ice spikes into his chest. The draugr flew off his feet, crashing into the wall. Talvas had time to reach up and grab me before I hit the ground. He swept me up in his arms and then over his back. I could see what he wanted me to do. There was another heavy coming at us with his sword. I rolled right over Talvas's back, bringing up my legs and kicking at the draugr in the chest with my flaming foot spell. Once I rolled off Talvas's back and onto my feet, Talvas snapped at the draugr still pinned to the wall, freezing his head. I looked up at the archer. He was releasing an arrow that was aimed right at Talvas. I spun back, grabbed Talvas by his collar and pulled him away right as the arrow ricocheted off the wall. The arrow barely skimmed his proper-looking nose.

The draugr I kicked was starting to get up. Talvas grunted as he jumped into the air and then basically froze in his place as his boot smashed through the draugr's head. I could see Talvas's drunken/angry expression frozen on his face as sweat and draugr blood filled the air around him. Then we started moving again. I brought my staff up onto the last heavy, Kyuu still running on the wall like a badass. Talvas placed his back to mine as he rounded on the archer pulling back another arrow to shoot at us. The heavy slashed at me and I caught it with my staff over my head. He was pushing hard, but I held him without sliding and getting my hands cut off. The archer released the arrow and Talvas slowly brought up his right arm to catch the arrow; catching it right before getting hit in the head. "Almost…done…with…slow…motion." He drawled to me; and I nodded to him. "Rotate!" He and I spun. I knocked the draugr in the head as I spun with Talvas.

Talvas spun the arrow around in his hand so that the tip was sticking straight out. As he came up to the dazed draugr, he took the arrow he caught and slammed it right into the draugr's throat. Kyuu jumped from the wall to the draugr, scratching out his eyes. Talvas ended it by throwing his palm to where the draugr's throat met the bottom of his jaw. He launched an ice spike straight up through the throat into the brain. The draugr flew straight up a few feet before crashing onto the staircase above him. The archer released another arrow and I brought up my staff. I don't know how I did it; maybe it was the slow motion action but… as the arrow raced for me, my staff seemed to catch it. I somehow got the arrow to spin around my staff, and as I spun my staff the arrow spun with me. I threw my staff in a forward slam and the arrow launched right off me and flew right into the draugr… but this time the slow motion wore off and it was instantaneous. The arrow just suddenly appeared in the draugr's head; his head rocked back and he dropped his bow. He stood here, wobbling for a few seconds before his knees crumbled. He fell from the bridge above us, landing on the ground with a sickening _thwack._

And just like that, our world seemed to return to us. Drunken Talvas was drunk; Kyuu was incapable of running on walls anymore, although he was still trying; and I was still wondering how I got my bo staff to do that with the arrow. The miracle of slow motion action scenes seemed like something we should do only on a limited basis. No idea what crazy magic we were really working with.

I looked over at Talvas, who was busy sliding down a wall. "Ok…that was fun." He looked at his thermos. "But now my head hurts. Did…did I really just smash a draugr with my boot?"

I nodded. "Yeah…that was pretty cool."

He nodded. "Tends to happen. I saw that thing you did with that arrow." He spun his hands in the air like it was imitating my staff. "I feel like I'm the sidekick on this quest." He glanced at me. "So…what do you want to do now?"

I gestured to the waterfall. "See that? A pool with a waterfall…and it drains normally. I really, really, want a bath. Think you can…you know…not be in here for a few minutes while I wash up and change my clothes?"

He nodded. "Now that Kyuu's here, he can just fix your previous robes."

Kyuu pawed at the wall. "I didn't get a great scene! I want to run on walls some more!"

Talvas started standing up and taking off his shirt. "Whoa!" I screamed to him. "What are you doing?"

He looked at me. "I was going to join you in the waterfall shower. It's big enough for both of us. Look…I can throw up an Illusion wall between us. We won't even have to see each other." And before I could object, a giant white screen wall flew up between the whole room. It flew straight up to the ceiling and I couldn't see any holes in it at all. I could see Talvas on the other side as a shadow…more like a shade, I guess. I could see where his shadow would have been if there had been a lamp off in the distance and this giant Illusionary wall was some really heavily stained glass. "See? Try to cross it. Bet it feels like glass." I placed my hand to the wall and it felt solid. Talvas's shadow walked up and placed his hand next to mine. I couldn't even feel it at all. This spell was amazing.

"Think you can teach this to me? Or something like a door for my bedroom?" I was still using that giant leather pelt as my 'door'.

"Sure." He replied. And I heard him take his pants off…and I guess I could see his shadow doing it too. I forced myself to look away as he walked over to the waterfall. I heard him walk inside the pool and heard water crashing down on top of him. I was still not fully on board with this but I started taking my bloody top off and my skirt too.

I stripped down and tossed my bloody clothes into a pile. "Kyuu?" I called to him. "Please fix my clothes too!"

"Yup!" He said. "Once you invite me in." Oh come on…that again? "Ok…you're allowed on my side of the wall too." He morphed right through the wall like it wasn't there. He ran up to my clothes and started using his healing beam.

"Hey, Kyuu?" I called to him as I stepped into the pool. I was as quiet as possible as I glided up to the waterfall. I could see Talvas's shadow from the other side. He was basically right next to me. "Mind grabbing me some soap and shampoo from the backpack?"

"Kay!" Kyuu called and ran back to the other side. I tried to ignore the fact that Talvas was less than a foot away from me as I started running my head underneath the surprisingly hot waterfall.

"Hot waterfall?" I asked as I stepped back. "What?"

"Sorry, that was me." Talvas called from right beside me; making me cover my chest and jump a bit. "I may have used an Illusion spell that makes the water hot. Or…it's Alteration. It's really a combo. I wanted warm water so the water became warm. It's not an illusion; the water's not cold and we're viewing it as warm…it really is warm."

"Oh…" I said as I stepped back under the waterfall. "Thanks." I let my face and hair just rest under the waterfall for a few seconds before sitting down in the deep end of the pool. I looked over at Talvas, who was still standing under the waterfall. I closed my eyes and just relaxed in the hot water while Kyuu bounced back over to me with a bar of soap and a container of shampoo wrapped up in his tails. He stopped by the pool of water and dropped the items for me.

"Here you go, Veselle." He smiled. "Mind if I join you in the bath? Maybe help me clean my fur?"

I nodded. "Sure, hop on in." And Kyuu didn't wait a second before jumping onto my head and then diving into the waterfall.

"You're going to let a boy bathe with you?" Talvas called from the other side.

I sighed. I looked down at my naked body and then up at Talvas's shadow. "He's a fox. And…he's not drunk." I looked over at Talvas's shadow. "Why? I bet you'd jump at the chance to join me." I grabbed the bar of soap and started lathering up my face. I hoped to get rid of all this blood soon enough.

"Need someone to wash your back?" Talvas called from the other side.

"I have Kyuu." I replied back. The thought of Talvas seeing me naked made me tremble. I didn't want him to see all the scars that covered my back, or my lack of chest for that matter. I got the scars from Marise Aravel from Riften one day when she thought I was stealing her bread. I had actually just taken it back from a thief and was trying to return it to her. She turned me around, pulled my shirt up, grabbed one of her whips, and gave me a back whipping in front of everyone in town. I also spent a day locked in a juvenile cell being lectured on what was accepted for children and what wasn't.

"Ok. Make sure to send Kyuu over here when you're done with him. I need him to wash my back too." Talvas replied as he sat down into the pool as well. He placed his back to the wall and I could see him relaxing. I found myself smiling as I started cleaning my hair and Kyuu's fur. We had a nice silence as we bathed and relaxed in the steamy water. Kyuu eventually joined Talvas and cleaned his back, and he just swam across the wall as much as he wanted, diving underwater and playing in the waterfall. I almost drifted off but as I started closing my eyes, Talvas started standing up from the pool. "I'm getting out now. If I stay in I will pass out. I'm already tanked as it is. If I collapse, the wall will too and then we'll both be bathing without a wall between us."

I didn't want him to get dressed before me so I jumped out of the pool and grabbed the towel waiting for me. I quickly dried myself off and rushed to put my Telvanni robes back on. They looked good as new. I made sure I had everything on perfectly before I had Kyuu help me with my twintail placement. Once they were back on, I let Talvas drop the wall. He was dressed in his robes, which looked new as well. "You looked cleaned up." He said to me with a slight slur. He gestured me to follow him. "We should continue on." I followed behind him as he led me up the stairs. "Think we've done enough yet to clear out the mines?"

I shook my head. "Although we're past anything the miners would be working on, I think we should just go through until we find Crescius's ancestor's journal. You know…to tie up all lose ends."

He nodded and led on. We found a door that was locked. He tried to open it and then sighed. "Watch closely." He placed his palm to the door for a few seconds. A green mist rolled off his hand, enveloping the lock. The lock clicked and the door opened up. "Tada…" He grumbled and drunkenly pressed on. I followed behind him. Talvas reached out to stop me, placing his hand right on my breast as he did so. It made me freeze for a second while he glanced ahead. "Two burial coffins." He said as he looked back at me. "And a pressure plate. Be careful." He stepped forward and missed a step. He stumbled forward, landing right on the pressure plate. The coffins popped open and two draugrs stepped out. And if that wasn't enough, I heard some whizzing past my head. Green-tipped darts whizzed past the room. The draugrs all got hit and they started stumbling. I felt a slight pinch in the back of my neck, and then my head started getting fuzzy. My vision blurred, and the last thing I remembered seeing was Talvas looking up at me, running up to catch me as I fell forward.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I think that ending may have been a bit rushed. I'm tired. I'll make it up with the next chapter. Some of which will be Talvas taking care of a drugged Veselle. Because Kyuu will be sleeping from getting hit by a poisoned dart too. Just in case someone suggested I used that as an escape claus. Oh...and a couple people wanted to remind me of things that go on in these quests. Yes, there will be the Bloodshoal blade. I made certain to remember that before I started so don't worry about that. The quest was going to be just Veselle to begin with... but she's pretty physically weak so I threw Talvas in so that he coudl use the blade instead. That's why he's in. And Verona dying...yup, also coming up soon enough. Don't worry, I have a plan.  
_


	12. Ice Spike

**Cearbhail**:

__I'm back! Yeah, my niece visited and I spent a few days teaching her to ride a bike. Next year I plan on teaching her to rollerblade. Can't wait for that; bet she can though. She had enough trouble trying not to fall. Wait until she puts on rollerblades for the first time. That won't be much fun for her. Anyway, we have a good chapter. It starts off in Talvas's point of view. I know, right? A chance to see what's going on his head. Don't get too used to it. I only use other people's points-of-views for chronicles stories if the main character is incapable of having their own during a certain event... like this one. There was something important I wanted to add, but...I can't remember it.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

[Talvas] (I know, right?)

_Book of Shadows, entry date 4e206 19th Second Seed_

_Where to begin? We started this mission on the 18th, late in the afternoon around 3:30 or something. The mission was given to us by Master Neloth; the assignment is relatively simple. We are to help Crescius clear the mine of spiders and draugrs so that the town may begin to recover from their depression. The mission was meant as a test for Veselle, but I talked Master into letting me accompany her. I know she's strong in magicka; I've never debated the fact. And I know she's confident and a great martial artist. The only thing I know for certain is that I don't know what she would be facing and I wanted to be near enough to see that she returns alive. But, this mission is in a mine…and ever since I was a boy and my parents locked me in a dark cellar while Argonians bull-rushed our farm….I can't be in enclosed spaces. The room was so tiny, so dark, and I heard everyone in our little farm dying around me as Argonians ripped them apart. Even now, I can still hear my mom screaming as I hid in pitch black, my shoulders touching both sides of the secret wall. I couldn't handle it then…I can't handle it now._

_Because of my fear of spaces, I had begun drinking before we arrived to our destination. I heavily wanted to make my brain feel that it was ok for my fears to disappear. And it works. I don't have a high tolerance for sujamma so I use it to make my fears disappear. Too bad it also makes me think it's ok to … well for a better lack of terms, make-out with Veselle. She's cute, and I've thought about it a few times but she's… well… I can't put words to it, but evil is the best I can think of right now. With how much crap she puts me through, why on Mundus I think she's cute is beyond me._

_Anyway, all of that is beside the point. When we got to the mine, I was already in my happy place. And then Crescius had to go and freak Veselle out and then throw a key at her while she was glancing down at the mines below us. She tumbled and I thought she died. I chased after her, finding out that a whole nest of frostbite spiders took up residence in the mines. Do you know how fast they repopulate? 100 eggs from a queen a week hatch. One week to mature. I fought over a thousand frostbite spiders. I killed them all. I found Veselle at the bottom of the mine, unlocking a door. She led me into the crypt. We decided to kill all the draugr in search of Crescius's ancestor's journal. We found a few traps along the way and I got to see Veselle show off her martial arts. We bathed together, sort of, and as we left to find the journal, she was hit by a poisoned arrow. I'm tending to her now._

_Talvas Fathryon._

_…_

I had barely been able to pick myself off the floor after a few darts flew into my back. Luckily for me, I had so much alcohol in my system that it cleared away the poison like it was nothing. I was able to stand up and kill the poisoned draugrs before they could pose much of a threat. I walked back up the stairs and collected Veselle and the unconscious Kyuu. She was so light that I couldn't believe she was so strong. She felt like a doll in my hands; and she looked even cuter when she slept. She had this light snore thing that sounded more like Kyuu when he squeaked. I carried her back to the room with the waterfall pool. Even in my drunken state, I had enough cognition to tell what poison I tasted on my lips. It was a nasty one. If I didn't treat it as soon as I could, there was no hope in treating her. So I did the only thing I could. I set her down on the ground near the waterfall and pulled out my thermos of sujamma. It was full, just like it always is when I open it. I didn't tell her this, but my thermos is special. When I drink from it, it refills instantly with more sujamma. I love Alteration magic. I never have to worry about running out.

It was because I wasn't worried about running out that I unscrewed the top and opened her mouth. I know she hates thinking about stuff like this but…if I didn't do this and do this now… her heart would stop in ten minutes after head-splitting headaches, boiling blood, and spasms. The only cure for this was on my sujamma, not just the alcohol but … canis root and ash yams. Go figure, right? The things she hated most would be the only things to save her life. I tipped her head back to open her throat and started gently pouring my sujamma into her mouth. She coughed for a second before she reached up and grabbed the thermos like it was a bottle. She moaned as she found out what it was and her eyes flickered open for a second before they shut again. She moaned something to me but I kept dripping more into her mouth. I didn't like it any more than she did, but she needed it.

After a few servings of sujamma, enough to make me plastered…I think I gave her enough. I set her down to rest, turning to Kyuu. He looked comfortable, but twisting in his own pain. His eyes finally snapped open. "Poison breech in system. Activate Heal Beam." His voice called out robotically. His tiny form rose off the ground like it was floating in water. A white beam radiated from his body, bright enough to blind me. The bright light faded quickly and Kyuu collapsed on the ground where he started. He groaned in his own way and shifted over to look at me. "I…I can't properly heal myself. I don't have any magicka left." He looked at Veselle. "She's not feeding me in her state. If…if she doesn't do something soon I'll be forced back." He looked at me. "I…I can't dismiss myself either. Talvas…kill me." He said to me. "I'm draining too much magicka from her. She won't recover like this. Just kill me so I can go back."

I didn't hesitate as I blasted him with an ice spike. It seemed to take him by surprise too. His eyes went wide as he suddenly exploded in ethereal goo. I couldn't waste time arguing with him. I had to look out for Veselle first. He couldn't really die; she could. I looked down at her as she started tossing and turning. She opened her eyes to look at me, sweat glistening her head. "Tal…" She closed her eyes and drifted off.

I fought the urge to drink more sujamma. I had to be as lucid as possible as she rested. The room spun around me already; I didn't need to add to it. I couldn't tell how far apart the walls were, I couldn't tell how high the ceiling was. My mind couldn't tell so it didn't tell me I was in a confined space. I didn't really hear my mother's cry for help either. My thoughts were pretty shallow; mostly on my own grumbling stomach, my burning fingers and toes, the pulse in my neck, and the very welcoming lips on Veselle. I had to be on edge for a while. She was just as drunk as I was. And I bet…there's a side of her that wants to be with me as much as I do her. My mind was clearing up enough to where I could fight that if I needed to. But…did I want to fight it? I could just let whatever happens happen. Ugh…that was the sujamma speaking.

I sat there quietly for a few minutes while Veselle tossed and turned; reaching for her head and covering her eyes as the sujamma and the poisoned fought for her. I would add more sujamma every ten minutes to keep her system updated. The battle was won when she woke up for real. I knew enough Restoration magic to know when the poison was gone. It was gone when she vomited it out.

The world around me started to clear up; the walls becoming real forms, and the ceiling starting to return to an original position. I felt my heart speeding up, my consciousness taking in the fact that there was no wind, no air flow. It was cold, it was musty, and it was stale. I started to scrunch up into a ball so I reached for my thermos and took a few hits of sujamma. I felt that bitter sting of the alcohol burning its way down my throat into my stomach. It took a few seconds before I felt it hit my head. The room started to spin around me and I well, I stopped really thinking.

I sat like that for a few minutes, making sure I kept taking more sips to keep me in my current blissfully unaware state. I kept looking down at Veselle to see her sweating and trying to pull her own clothes off to keep cool. So I reached over and started undoing her robes. I'm drunk; I don't think about stuff. Once I had her robes loose enough to slide her out of them, I pulled them off and carried her over to the waterfall pool. She seemed even lighter without all her clothes to weigh her down. She looked really cute without them too. I laid her down in the water, making sure her head was comfortably resting on a towel and went back to my little spot. I lied my head down and before I knew it, I let my drunken exhaustion get the most of me.

…

[Veselle]

I felt cold and wet. My head was throbbing; my stomach felt like it was burning while tying in knots. My eyes hurt…why did my eyes hurt? When I tried to sit up, my stomach had other plans. With my lungs burning and a sickening smell in my throat that I could only believe to be stomach acid, I had only a few seconds to spin myself around before I threw up. Whatever was in me flew out my mouth. It took a few hurls to get it all out of me, but boy did I feel better.

The first thing I noticed was that I was wet. Why? I looked around and found myself resting inside the waterfall pool from earlier. How did I get here? What happened? Last thing I remembered Talvas fell onto a pressure plate and poisoned arrows flew across the room. One hit my neck… oh no. I had been poisoned. I reached for my neck to feel for the hole. I could still feel the bump where the dart had hit me. I should be dead. That poison felt like hell. And then something else entered me and just made me feel worse. I vaguely remembered Talvas opening my mouth and pouring this fiery stuff down my throat. It tasted awful, burned my throat and my stomach going down, and it made every inch of my body feel like it was warm and bubbly. He must have given me sujamma to help fight off the poison. How clever; fight poison with poison.

I started climbing out of the pool. As soon as I did I fell straight back in. My head spun in all directions; thumping deep behind my eyes while my skull felt like it was pulling apart in several directions at once. What the heck was going on with me? Splotches of green grew over my eyesight and I thought I was going to pass out for a second, my own breath short. I just sat in the cold water as I waited for the world to recollect itself again. I slowly crawled out of the pool and reached for the towel waiting for me. I found my robes not too far away, just tossed aside like they were nothing. Wait…if my robes were there…what was I wearing? I looked down to see myself in my undershirt and underwear. Well, I guess it was a good thing I wore these underneath my robes. I guess Talvas must have undressed me to keep me from overheating and then threw me in the pool to keep cool. He should have just let me sweat it out. I would have recovered eventually.

Speaking of Talvas, I could see that he was resting on the staircase, stretched out and snoring. I dried myself off and started slipping my robes back on. I had to change my underwear for drier pairs before I did that. I was amazed just how badly I was shivering. That water had been so cold. Without that Alteration spell to warm it up, that water was nearly freezing. It must have not taken long for my core temperature to drop inside it because everything was shaking. And the more this alcohol was wearing off, the more aware I was of how cold I really was. My body wasn't stiff because I was drunk; it was stiff because it was nearly frozen. Even though I was in fresh clothes, I was still cold. And I don't know if it was the alcohol or my freezing body that made me feel like it was ok to grab a blanket and curl up to Talvas, wrapping us both up as I lied down on top of him. He was warm…he was always warm. I curled around him with my arms and let myself fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

I don't know how long I let myself lie like that but eventually he reached and tapped me on the shoulder. By then I was warming up and my head wasn't spinning nearly as bad. Talvas looked down at me with slightly confused eyes but he smiled. "I see you're awake. We should continue on. Just stick behind me the rest of the way."

I nodded and started getting off him. But as I started to stand up, I found myself curious about something. He tried to kiss me before, and I stopped him, even though I was pretty sure that I wanted it. So…I went for it. I pushed myself up against him and kissed him on the lips. He almost tried to push me off but he stopped before he actually could. Instead he wrapped me up and pulled me closer. His lips and tongue felt so welcoming me to me and I just got lost in all of it. My head was still spinning and I had this pulsing headache, but I didn't care for a few seconds. Just when I was starting to get lost in the kiss, Talvas pushed me off. I don't know why but I really wanted more so I started pushing in for more. He kept pushing me back. "Veselle, you're still drunk." His words were pretty lost on me. But he kept pushing me off, flicking me in the head with frost magicka as he did so.

We went on like that for a few minutes before my head really started to clear up. And when it did, I was happy Talvas had enough sense to keep pushing me off. I didn't realize I had started undoing his pants. Talvas had actually tied me up for a few minutes while he waited for my buzz to wear off. I don't remember when he did that either. There were some pockets of my memory missing. My head was throbbing now and my eyes hated the idea of staying open for too long. My throat was dry as all hell, and my stomach wanted something inside it; heck I don't even think it cared at this point. Just something really greasy.

Talvas was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you finally mentally ready?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm really thirsty though."

He nodded and pulled out a thermos. "Here, have some." He walked over and started undoing the ropes keeping me from charging into him. When the ropes slid off, I let myself relax. I didn't want him to tie me back up and I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of kissing him or getting anything else from him either. I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss we did have though. It felt so good at the time, and it still did. I wondered if it would feel just as good right now. I didn't want to test the question though. I didn't need that type of relationship with him. I should just write it off as a onetime thing and let us get back to our lives. Once we were done with this quest, I was going to give him a concussion so that he'd forget any of this ever happened and I would just have to get Master to make me forget too. It was for the best of everything.

I looked up at him and then down to the thermos in his hands. "Is that your sujamma?"

He shook his head. "No it's juniper juice, but a good cure for a hangover is more alcohol if you're interested." He passed it to me. I took it from him and started chugging the thing. There was almost none left, but looking at the waterfall and fresh cold water…I think I knew what to fill my thermos with when I ran out. So, I cleaned the whole thermos and started filling it with water from the waterfall. "I'm sorry about earlier." Talvas said to me as I filled my thermos. "I was still pretty out of it, and you were so welcoming that…I didn't think."

Oh? We were going there? I guess we had to talk about it. "No problem. I was pretty out of it too. I had no idea how much you just don't care about that stuff when you're mentally impaired." I looked over at him. "Think of it as a…" How did I want to phrase this? "thank you for keeping me warm while I rested." I gestured to the pool. "You put me in freezing water. Once I woke up, I was freezing, and you're warm. I wanted to be warm too. The kiss was a thank you."

Talvas nodded slowly before turning around. "Well, let's continue." He stood up and started heading for the open door.

I ran up to join him, grabbing my staff as I did so. I followed behind Talvas as he led me into the room that almost killed me. He carefully stepped as far to the side of the hallway as possible so that even if he did fall, he wouldn't land on the pressure plate like he did before. I found myself standing behind him as closely as possible, holding onto his robes. I was half-tempted to hug him from behind but I forced myself to forget about it. I could let myself have some romance I guess; because I was going to make sure he'd forget it after all this was over. But…I'd still remember. It was better that I not push this any further. Things between us might get weird and I didn't really want that. I wanted us to be friends, not … something else.

We walked through the pathway to the left, walking along some small tunnel. Talvas, ahead of me was taking it quickly as he tried to get out. I could hear him gasping as he started speeding up. I think it was his claustrophobia. I raced to keep up with him and we found ourselves at a crossroads. To our left was a small room with a pedestal with what looked like a spell tome sitting on it. Talvas was leaning against a wall, taking deep breaths as he reached for his chest. His eyes were snapped shut and he slid down. "I need to sit for a second. That tunnel was…too enclosed for me." He pulled out his thermos and started chugging more sujamma. Jeez…how much of that stuff does he have?

I walked up to the altar. Indeed, there was a spell tome with an icicle embedded into the cover. I picked it up and waved it to Talvas. "Hey…there's a spell tome. Want it?"

He shook his head. "All yours." He replied. "Just let me sit for a sec."

I shrugged and rolled my eyes as I opened it up. Just like all the other tomes beforehand, the thing snapped open, flipping through pages upon pages of sigils and runes and circles. Everything recorded about this spell and how to make it was recorded. And instantly knowledge of Frost entered my mind, but it went beyond that. Muck like my firebolt spell, I got two for the price of one. I learned out how to form frost magicka as well as compact it into a spike to launch out. It was surprisingly similar to fire magicka, but… there was a huge difference. Fire magicka is fueled by determination, anger, by pure emotional fire…frost magicka is fueled by well… a lack of emotions. It's a cold indifference, a cold pain in your heart that can only be formed by pain and scars. In order to use Frost, I had to be put through pain. Well…if I wanted to learn it the old-fashioned way, the way it started. This tome taught me how to form it; I had to visualize it. It just grew stronger by control of my emotions, the cold hard emptiness of the tundra: frozen and controlled. I had to put myself in desolation. I could do that. I just had to think of my life in my house when my father was put in prison. My entire life was like that. And my time spent in Tel Mithryn.

My eyes cleared up and I found Talvas standing up from his spot. The tome turned to ash and fell through my fingers, turning to dust before it hit the ground. "What spell was it?" He asked me as he walked up to me.

"Ice Spike." I replied.

"Ouch." He called in return. "You know to use that spell you need to know emotional control right? It's not like your flames. You can't just get mad and scorch your opponents."

I nodded. "Yes, I get it. Zen-like emptiness with intent, right?"

He nodded. "Yes. It's hard during battle but once you get the hang of the battle meditation, you'll be set."

So…if flames were created by emotional overuse, and frost by emotional indifference. "What creates shock magicka?"

He looked at me and shrugged. "I don't know. Only Master knows about shock. He could tell you." He looked up at the altar on the floor above us. He patted me on the arm, gesturing me to look up. "See that? It's a soul gem on an altar. We should just take it out right now." His hands cooled and started forming into ice in his palm. I watched as the magicka in his hand formed into a spike and it launched off towards the gem. The gem shattered as the ice spike passed right through it. "There, one less trap to deal with." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to follow him. "Let's keep going. I'm guessing we need to be up there."

Well, since the whole room looked like it was a box trap with this one tome…I don't think we could do anything else down here. Might as well try it out. Right across from our little room was a spiral staircase leading up. Gee…I wonder where that went. Sarcasm.

We pretty much ran up the staircase up to the room above us. Talvas pulled me across the bridge leading us to the altar that housed the old soul gem. He continued pulling me as we raced through the room. "I'm so sick of being down here." He said to me as he continually pulled me along with him. I could barely keep up with him as he raced through the room. We barged right through another open door and Talvas suddenly stopped. I didn't get the message so I crashed right into him and he fell forward, and since he was still holding onto me, he pulled me too. I got a pretty good look from my fall. A 30 foot drop straight down. I felt my stomach cry out as my legs went numb. The world spun around me as the wind took me. And just as quickly as I fell, I jolted to a stop. Talvas was gripping hard onto my arm, actually holding me. I looked up to see him hanging onto the ledge we fell from. "I can't hold us, Veselle. Here." He gestured to the stream underneath us. "See that pool?" I could see a pool of water that looked pretty deep right underneath us.

"Haven't I gotten wet enough today?" I called up to him.

"Apparently not." He said and swung me out. He let go of my hand and I prepared myself for the fall. I fell pretty fast and I was heading right for the pool. It looked just deep enough to halt me with only a few broken bones.

"Use your fire to slow down!" He called to me.

And so I did. I let the fear of falling spread through me as I stuck my feet out. Fire roared out of my feet, throwing me up a little before I continued falling. By then I was only five feet up or something and so I gently landed in the water. I curled into a ball and held my breath as I crashed into the water. Just like last time, the water was ice cold and it forced every bit of air out of me. I gently bumped my butt at the bottom of the pool and pushed off with my feet. I broke the surface of the pool long enough to see Talvas falling right for me. I screamed as I dove back down and pushed myself as far to the bottom as I could. I heard and saw Talvas stir bubbles as he crashed into the pool. He collided with me and he pushed me right to the floor of the natural pool. He forced the air out of me, but he scooped me up and pushed us both up towards the surface. When we broke it, I took a deep breath and started beating on his arms. "You stupid! You could have killed me!"

He swam us out of the pool; meanwhile I was still punching and kicking him as he did so. When we got far enough away from the pool, he pulled off his backpack and opened it up. "Everything's soaked." He set the backpack down and looked at me. "Our spare pair of clothes are soaked too."

I felt a cold draft spread over me. "I can dry us." I said as I tore his bracelet off. "You threw me in 30 feet into a small pool…" Flames started forming around me, only growing stronger as I thought about the last few seconds. "and then you jumped in right before I could get away. You could have _killed_ me!" The flames only grew larger and I felt the heat of the flames over my body. I willed them to keep us safe but to dry us off. The flames responded to me. "You know what…I take back my kiss! You don't deserve it."

Talvas only sighed as he stepped up to me and rubbed his hands over the fire spreading my body. "I would explain what really happened but we need your flames so…" He reached up and pulled one of my twintails. "This is the temperature control, right? I pull on this twintail and the fire goes up, right?" Then he booped my nose. "Or is it in your nose?"

I felt so embarrassed and frustrated that the flames roared off my body like a wave. "Don't do that!" I said as I reached up at my nose.

"Ok, so it was the nose." He replied as the fire spread over him. And for the next few minutes he tried to keep me pissed off so that we could dry. I must admit…it worked. We dried off. By I was pooped. When we finally finished drying, he made me stop by saying, "Ok, so it's time for the truth." He looked at me and shrugged. "My hand slipped. When I flung you, my fingers slipped and I fell right behind you. I was able to push myself up into the air long enough to land a few seconds after you."

And it let my flames dry up. When they did we looked up at the doorway we fell from. There was no way we'd get back up there. 30 straight up into the air. "We're stuck down here…aren't we?"

Talvas sighed. "Let's look around first." He started walking around. I followed behind him.

We followed the small river up. We were in a large cavern; almost large enough to help Talvas with his claustrophobia. As we walked, we could see a very large doorway with a weird door and several red lines scattering around it. Bodies that looked a lot like draugrs littered the floor with a skeleton holding onto a journal lying in the middle of them. In the skeleton's hands were a large blood red claymore with spines along the blade and a dark brown leather-clad journal.

Talvas bent down to check out the sword while I reached for the journal. The cover read 'Property of Gratian Caerellius.' I held it up to Talvas. "We did it! We found the old guy's journal." I stood up and jumped with joy, whooping at my successive quest. "Take that, dead guys we killed to get here!" I opened up the journal and cleared my throat. "Let's see… 'I've been contracted to search the mine for potential risks for the East Empire Company. Blah, blah, blah." I said as I flipped through the pages, closing the journal behind me. "Ok. We got the right journal." I looked at Talvas. "We can go now." I pointed up the giant hole we fell through. "Nothing's getting through that doorway. We cleared as much as I think we needed to."

Talvas sighed. "Veselle…" He looked up at the hole. "WE can't get up there. We're…stuck." He looked around. "Maybe this door." He walked up to it and started knocking on it. "It's locked." He pushed on it. "Veselle, what's the journal say about it?"

I flipped open the journal and found a picture of the door and… the sword. I read the passage which basically said that the sword emits this red energy that waves off it and the door was covered in red energy similar to the blade, but…according to the journal, the old man couldn't figure it out. Jeez…red energy that streams off a blade and red lines that match the color of the energy of the blade? Wow…that's easy. "Hey Talvas? Try swinging the blade at the angle of those…red lines on the edges of the doorway. I think it's a puzzle."

He looked at the door. He shrugged and swung the blade. Nothing happened. "Nothing happened." He reported back to me.

"Put some balls behind it!" I yelled to him.

"What?" His face reddened and then turned around swinging the blade like he had a pair. Red energy collected around the blade, rolling off it like a crimson wave. The energy rolled through the sky with a cry similar to a banshee's final wail. The energy crashed into the red lines across the doorway. And just like that, the parts of the walls crashed down and new red lines formed both vertically this time. There was no way he'd get them both in one swing this time. Talvas fell to his knees, grabbing his sides in pain. "Wow…that really took it out of me."

I clapped my hands as I walked up to him. "Ok…now…do it two more times."

He sighed as he stood up. "Ok, but…first I need to eat something."

"Fine." I said as my stomach started grumbling. I needed to eat something too.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_And next chapter...big boss battle. If you've played this quest before, and I'm pretty sure the ones of you that actually review have played it because you remind me of things not to forget... then you know what's coming next. And do please keep reminding me of things not to forget; sometimes I get too caught up in my own head to remember what exactly comes next. That's why I'm focusing so hard on this quest right now and neglecting my other stories. If i even think about the Chronicles of Ruby or my Assassin's Den, I might forget what I wanted to do for this quest. So...I'm already starting on the next one while I'm on a roll. Enjoy.  
_


	13. Drunken boxing

**Cearbhail**:

__Yup, all done on the same day. Like I said, I wanted to get this done while I still had it going inside my head. I should be finishing this up next chapter. I could go into the whole fighting reavers thing but I don't think we really need to see more of that. They'll just talk about it in the journal entry when they go back to Crescius in Raven Rock. I'm really happy with this chapter. Got some great humor in, almost like the old days with the Chronicles of Lydia. Almost. Still not quite there.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is still the 19th. We took a small break so I'm updating what we've done. Talvas stepped on a trap and poisoned me. Then he drugged me with alcohol and we almost had sex or something. I'd rather forget about it to be honest, but I thought I'd write it down so that I never will. I kissed him and that's when it almost went somewhere. But it didn't. We left to find the end of this place and it led us to a spell tome. I learned Ice Spike. Yay me! And then we fell down into a large cavern filled with a dead body, Crescius's great-grandfather's journal, a giant sword, and a doorway that can only be opened by the sword itself. The sword is a key! Just like in Pink Vs. Purple, one of my favorite shows on the crystal ball. It's about these soldiers fighting in Skyrim. Pink…representing the Legion, and Purple, representing the Stormcloaks. They pretty much make fun of war and fighting and stuff. This one guy has a giant glowing sword that was really a key…kinda like the part of the show that was about memory being the key. It's all weird. Anyway, Talvas is working on the doorway right now. I'm just sitting here because the sword is too heavy for me to even lift, let alone swing._

_Veselle._

_…_

I sat on my blanket while Talvas stood over the doorway, swinging the blade with everything he had. Red energy would fly off the blade, crashing into the doorway and then the section would fold in on itself and disappear, opening up another part to be slashed open. We'd been here for about an hour now and he was still going at it. Every time he swung that thing he needed a second to catch his breath before he could open the next section. The lines were getting pretty complicated now too. They started off as horizontal and then vertical, then diagonal. Now they were swirly and zigzaggy. To be honest, it was stupid to think that someone could create those waves. Apparently Talvas could. He manipulated the energy with his magicka. Go figure, right?

So, I sat here on my little blanket as I waited for Talvas to finish up with his new toy. "Take it, you bitch!" He screamed as he swung the sword again. A flimsy red beam rolled off the blade. It was barely even a blade at this point. He was just stretching to make a committed swing. Meanwhile, I was sitting on a blanket, eating a soggy apple. I couldn't help with the blade; I'm physically weak. That blade weighs 16 pounds, and even swinging that thing is enough to make me fall over backwards trying.

I would have one of my two spirits help, but they haven't called to me yet. They must still be recovering from their wounds. And without them, I'm rather useless. I hated being useless. I couldn't wait until we could get out of here. We found the journal, what more was left to get? That's when I felt the chill on my spine again. That feeling of calling. Whatever has been watching me this whole time was standing behind me…breathing on my neck again.

I quickly stood up and looked behind me. There was nothing standing there of course. This kept happening down here. There was something down here watching us, something calling us. It wanted me to find it. I…I think I needed to have it. The feeling was calling me towards the doorway. Whatever we wanted was behind the door. I could feel it gathering behind the door…some massive force that was calling to us. I felt the tremor down my spine and for a second I was happy Talvas hadn't opened the door yet. Something big was waiting for us and I didn't want to meet it.

"Got it!" Talvas cried out in joy as the door started splitting in half. He fell to his knees. "I'm all tapped out." He cried as he fell flat on his back.

I looked down at him. "Talvas, get up!" I felt that sickening energy overwhelm me and I knew whatever wanted to kill me waited on the other side of it. The doors hissed out as fresh air blew into the large chamber. I was all alone. I looked down at Talvas, who was still catching his breath…perhaps even sleeping. My spirits were still out cold. I was really on my own now. "Talvas, get up!" I screamed to him, but he didn't respond.

The entranceway was dark. I couldn't really see inside it, but I could still feel the energy calling to me; the darkness in the void reaching for me. It wanted me to join it in the void, to embrace nothingness. I brought my staff up and it started burning with intense flame sigils as I stepped up to the open doorway. I dropped my apple, holding onto my staff with both hands as I stepped up to the downed Talvas. He was only a few feet from me. Surely, if I just got to him and propped him up he'd be able to help me fight…whatever it was. I didn't see anything, but I could sure feel it.

I reached Talvas and reached down for him. I picked him up by his shoulders and leaned him up against me. I started slapping him on the cheek as he started looking up at me. "What is so important, Vess? I'm really exhausted. Can't I just have a moment?"

I sighed in relief. He was still awake. "Talvas…can't you feel that?"

He looked at me with curiosity. "Like when you could hear the ash talking to you?"

I shook my head. "No…" My voice sounded so broken with fear that I couldn't control it. "There's been this…darkness calling me this whole time." I nudged to the doorway. "It's waiting for us beyond this door."

He sighed as he pushed himself up. "Ok, I get it." He lifted the sword up and carried it with him as he looked at me. "Pack our bag. We're continuing on." He brought up his thermos and started drinking more sujamma. I rushed over to the bag and started packing up our stuff: the blanket, the apples. Once I had it all packed, I ran to catch up to Talvas, who waited for me by the doorway. He wasn't looking at me though. He was just standing there like he didn't know what to do. When I caught up with him, I understood why.

The entire room was nothing but swinging blades, smashing walls, collapsing ceilings, spikes flying out of the floor and walls in some random fashion, a massive lava pit, and a porch leading to a locked door with a cranky old Altmer woman knitting socks in her rocking chair. She had a cane with her. And I can tell she's that really old racist person who hates dark-skins like myself and would try to beat me up for coming up to her porch.

I looked at Talvas. "What the heck is this?"

"Fucked up." He replied. He turned to me. "Veselle, this may be just a hunch but…you're a marital artist."

"Yeah…"

"And there's this thing called drunken boxing…"

"yeah…"

"Do you think if we got you drunk that you'd be able to…ninja your way across this whole thing with some awesome drunken boxing stuff and just you know…pull that lever next to the racist old woman?" He pointed to the lever next to the grandma.

I…I don't even know how on nirn he thought I had been trained in drunken boxing. "So…because I can do some fancy marital arts, you think if I suddenly get drunk I'll turn into martial arts master Frankie Chin?" He's a famous Breton master of being really fast on his feet and drunk. He created drunken style.

Talvas held up his thermos of sujamma. "Worth a try…right?"

I looked at the thermos and then back at him. I scowled as best I could and walked up to the first trap. I timed it just right and got past the three spinning blades. I glanced back at him and cocked my shoulders and gave him a confident smirk. I was going to own this without his trash. "I think I can…" Four spikes came up all around me, scaring me so I jumped back, almost getting sliced by the three spinning blades in the process. They missed me by inches and I lost a small piece of my bangs. I sighed as I walked up to his thermos and grabbed it. I held my nose and started chugging it as fast as I could. If I was going to die down here, I'd better at least not be aware of it happening.

The world started spinning around me as my hands started tingling with a warm pulse. My head felt really…wobbly. And the floor was more like water in an active pool now, moving up and down like it was a tide. I walked up to the first trap and they seemed to dance around me and my body responded. I danced past the blades and up to the spikes. They came up all around me but I didn't really care about them. As they came close, my body treated it like someone was throwing a punch at me. I simply moved out of the way, throwing my arm up to defend myself like I was blocking a kick or something. As spikes came up underneath my feet, I felt them at the very second they came up and I just stepped out of the way. I laughed at the spikes as they tried to touch me. At one point I taunted them by yelling, "Can't tag me!" And then I got across the whole spikes trap without trying.

The collapsing walls, I vomited on them and then I hiccupped flames. They all blew up…the collapsing ceiling too. I walked past the rubble up to the lava floor. I felt a sneeze forming and I tried to rub my nose. It didn't work and then I sneezed. Frost flew out of my nose, strong enough to cool the magma into a nice floor. I strolled across it before it thawed or melted, whatever it would have done. I danced around more swinging and spinning blades. I think I actually grabbed onto one of the spinning blades, put my feet on it, and rode it a few times before jumping off onto a swinging blade. It swung me across towards the old woman and I jumped off, landing near her porch.

"Get away from my porch before I call the police!" She waved her cane at me. I grabbed onto the railing and started climbing up the staircase. She was still yelling at me, calling me nasty words that were offensive to Dunmer, and throwing her slippers at me. "Get off my porch, girl, or I'll whip your butt." She tried to say but her fake teeth popped out.

I pointed to the lever and said, "Can I…can I…_hick_…. Do you have any noodles?" I asked as I reached for my stomach, it grumbled in reply. "I'm so hungry for noodles." Why was I thinking of noodles? I came here for a reason…which was… I reached in for her face. "You're so wrinkly…and yellow. You're really old, you know that?" It was a legitimate question. She was old, and she might not know that.

She scowled at me. "Get off my porch." She swung her cane at me and for a second my lightning martial arts came through. My knees gave out and the cane passed over my head. I felt my stomach turning and I hurled on the old woman's face. She looked horrified and she looked up at me like I had just told her the world was ending. As I stood up, I needed something to brace against as I pulled myself up. My hand found the lever and as I pulled myself up, I pulled it down. And just like that, the old woman dissolved, with the rest of the illusion of the front porch. The lava cooled down, all the blades disappeared…the walls and ceilings were still blown up from where I destroyed them.

Talvas ran up to me, waving. "Good work, Veselle!" He said as he ran up. "We should keep that as our back-up plan for now on. You were so cool!"

I felt really happy that he complimented me, so I smiled at him. "I love you so much." I said as he caught up to me. I threw my arms around his neck. "You're so nice to me, and always watching out for me. I love you, dude." I had no idea what I was saying right then but I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're my best friend in the whole world. I love you so much."

Talvas didn't reply but pulled me with him. "Ok, Veselle. Let's get this over with and get you some fresh air. We both need a break after this." The room was still spinning for me and I felt sick to my stomach, but I could see a massive pool in a huge room supported by many pillars and a massive wall with a dragon's head at the end of the room. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could feel something calling for me but I couldn't tell what or where it was.

I pulled on Talvas's tunic and gestured to the massive pool. "Look…a pool. Let's take a bath together like we did earlier. This time without a wall."

He chuckled lightly and patted me on the head. "You're cute when you're drunk, but no."

I kicked him in the balls and he collapsed underneath me. I started dragging him to the pool. "We're taking a bath." I mumbled as I dragged him behind me. I don't know why I was so adamant about taking a bath with him or why he wouldn't join me, but it seemed like it would be nice to have company while I cleaned my body from all the vomit that splashed on me when I vomited on the old woman. And I bet he was sweaty from swinging that massive blade around all day.

As we got near the bath, I saw someone else had a similar idea. This really, really old person wearing this mask that looked weird to me was lying belly up in the middle of the pool. As we got close, he stood up and turned to greet us with a hug. "Hi, hobo guy. Can we join you in the bath?" I waved to him.

Talvas stood up and looked at the guy stretching out his staff to greet us. So, the guy was a mage? That was pretty cool. Maybe he was a Telvanni Lord? Right as the guy started greeting us with a wave of shock magicka from his staff, Talvas crashed into me, tackling me to the ground. He pressed down on top of me and I pulled on him. "Are you sure you want to do this in front of him?" I said as I started reaching for his pants.

"What?" He cried before he pushed himself off me. He sighed as he stood up. "Veselle…this is not the time to joke like that." He pointed to the hobo mage with the mask. "This is a dragon priest. An ancient spellcaster that fought in the dragon wars. He's trying to kill us!"

That's when I snapped into fighter mode. I jumped right onto my feet. "He's a peeping tom! He wanted to watch me bathe!"

Talvas sighed. "Yes, he's a peeping tom and he wants to see you naked."

Flames erupted all over my body. "Veselle smash!" I cried as I pulled up my staff. I felt the flames roll off me but they seemed…woozy? They scattered all around the room but not actually hitting the floating hobo ghost person. The floor underneath me wobbled and I lost my footing. I fell to the left and a blinding white flash flew right past my head. Talvas roared as he jumped over the banister into the water. I watched as he brought that sword straight down, the red energy growing so bright that I thought it was ruin our bathing pool. The hobo ghost person stuck out his hand and caught the red beam as it fell on him. The beam split in two, barely scratching the thing. Talvas fell into the water and I stood up to follow him. I started pulling off my robes to join him in the bath. "Wait for me, Talvas." I whined. And then I looked at the ghost peeping hobo and put my robes back down. I stuck out my tongue, saying, "I'm not taking off my clothes while you're still living!"

He started shooting more lightning at me and I lost my balance on the floor. As I swayed, lightning danced all around me, and I felt the sparks tingling on my skin. Some of it zapped across my head and it was an instant sobering effect. The world stopped spinning, and I stopped thinking like a drunken baby. Talvas was climbing out of the pool, and there was a floating ghost thingy looking right at me with a glowing staff. That feeling that energy watching over me was growing again and it was swirling around this dragon priest thingy. I felt scared to my core as I felt it powering up. It launched its lightning at me and I stuck my hands out, summoning a protective ward in front of me. The ward took the brunt of the hit but the lightning was so strong that it broke through my ward like it was nothing. The force of the explosion threw me off my feet. I flew backwards landing on my back. In that split second I hit the ground, a wave of lightning washed over top of me, hitting the wall behind me. I could see the scorch mark and the part of the wall that had broken apart from the impact. If I got hit by that…I wouldn't be able to talk about it later. I'd be dead.

Talvas leapt out of the water, his entire body covered in frost magicka. It was flying around him like a protective shell. "Veselle! Use your Flame Cloak!"

"My what?" I called from the flat of my back.

"Summon your flames around you as a protective aura. It will help you block some of the shock magicka."

I took a deep breath and let my fear build my flames around my body. Fire started pouring out of me and I willed it to cyclone around me like a rotating shield. And it slowly started building. And once I felt the spell pop into place, I knew it would hold. I stood up and readied my staff. I visualized several firebolts and I didn't hold anything back. "Talvas, you better run! I'm not holding back!" And I let them fly to the floating monster.

"Shit…" Talvas cried as he dove under water right as the firebolts all collided with the monster. There was a series of serious explosions that almost threw me off my feet as water evaporated into steam. A thick cloud of steam rolled over me and I thought my eyes were going to burn off. I thought for certain that I killed the thing, but I knew better than assume of anything. And through the steam I could see something floating in the middle of the room. There was a glow and I felt a spike in energy. I jumped to the side right as a bolt of lightning rolled past me. It grazed across my flame aura and died off as it did so. So…this would protect me after all. That was good news. I brought my staff up and focused my flames on it. The staff started glowing with red flame sigils and I let it roar towards the monster. I didn't know where Talvas was, but he could take care of himself by now.

My flame cyclone rolled right off my staff through the thick mist and over to the shadowy monster. The flames rounded into a ball at the monster, like he was catching my attack. My flames started dying down and I didn't have anything left. My staff died down and my aura started falling as well. I was actually running out of magicka energy. My ball of flames was dying down, torn apart by the dragon priest. I couldn't really see what was going on through the mist, but I could see my ball of flames being torn apart by some shadowy figure, and it looked like a floating ghost. Then more lightning launched at me. I ducked to the side; more launching at me where I was standing. I jumped back doing a backflip. Lightning rolled all across my spread limbs, barely missing me. Then something hit me square in the back and my entire body just went cold. My arms gave out and I hit the floor pretty hard. My body spasmed a few times and I pretty much went brain dead.

I struggled to sit up but it was like when Master blasted me with lightning earlier. My body was in shock. I managed to grip the floor in front of me and I started pulling myself towards my staff. The dragon priest was moving somewhere in the mist where he could see me better. Lightning flashed off its staff, hitting everything around me. The floor around me shattered as the lightning broke it loose. Bits and pieces of the floor flew around me and I grabbed my head as I tried to hug the ground as much as I could. I curled up in a ball as lightning blasted every bit of the floor around me. I screamed as more lightning crashed into my hand. I felt that bitter sting roll all around inside me. My vision blurred and I almost passed out.

The room suddenly started getting colder and colder. The mist covering the room started turning into drops of water that were freezing the suspended air. I felt magical power I had never felt before. It felt like a frozen tundra. "You shouldn't have made her scream." I heard Talvas say from near the wall with the dragon. He was standing there, whipping up a massive snow storm around him. I don't know how long he had been charging it up, but it looked ready. I could see the glow of frost magicka in his eyes; his entire body covered in a light layer of ice and snowflakes. The monster turned to face him. "You shouldn't remind me of her!" Talvas screamed and threw his hands forward.

I felt a wave of pure cold overwhelm me. All the drops of frozen water started morphing into icicles. They all started aiming at the monster. With a wave of his hands the icicles all launched at once at the monster. I watched as the thing was pelted with icicles large enough to impale a mammoth. The thing had so much ice through it that nothing could have lived through it. The creature didn't seem so impressed through. Lightning surged through its body and all the ice instantly evaporated.

The monster warmed up lightning in its staff and launched it at Talvas. He stuck his own hand up and formed a shield spell. The lightning crashed against it but the shield didn't break. Talvas actually tipped the shield to the side and the lightning just rebounded off into a wall. He held the shield on his forearm like an actual shield. Why hadn't I thought of that? I guess I wasn't just that type of fighter. Not yet at least. Talvas had experience, more than I did at least. The red sword in Talvas's hands started glowing with bright red energy and he started swinging away as much as he could. Red waves of energy roared through the room, brighter than any I had seen before.

The monster started floating around the lines of energy, almost like he was teleporting. He did that until he got up to Talvas and grabbed him by the throat. He brought the staff up to him and released a whole load into his gut. Talvas cried out in murder as he was launched from the dragon wall. He flew across the entire room, crashing near me and rolling into the scorched wall behind me. He wasn't moving at all. I think he was dead. I looked back at the monster to see that Talvas's thermos was sitting in front of me. It must have rolled out of his pack when he crashed into the ground. I thought of my drunken style and I reached for it. It could be my only chance. I hope there was still enough sujamma left. I caught the lid and pulled it to my mouth. I flipped myself on my back and thumbed the lid off. I didn't have time to aim the cup over me. I just let the sujamma fall over my face and hoped some of it entered my mouth. I wasn't expected a non-ending river of sujamma to wash over me. I got more than enough to numb my whole body. Whatever was inside me earlier started acting up and this current batch was only helping me along. I lost all sense of pain and all sense of my body.

I rolled from my back onto my feet, doing some sort of break dance on the way up. I looked at the thermos of sujamma. It was still full. Leave it to Talvas to think of something like this. This lightning might be able to block my drunken mind, so I would just have to hold onto this. I took another sip and felt the warmth of it wash over me. My brain cells were going to give me hell over this later. I closed the lid and looked back at the floating ghost thingy. It was staring at me through its mask. "You…you meanie. You hurt my friend. I'm going to…where's my bath water?" I looked down at the evaporated pool. "You…you took my bath water away. I…I really wanted to take a bath, and YOU RUINED IT." I screamed as flames started rolling off my body.

White flashes started flying towards me. They blinded me so I stepped away. I felt the white flashes of lightning fly all around me, but I was able to feel them coming. My loose legs started dancing me over to the thing while lightning flashed all around me. I found myself dancing through entire streaks and waves of lightning as I came up to the monster. I didn't have much magicka left, but I had my wits. Ok…I'm drunk; I have no wits. But I had my fists and my staff. When I got within striking range of my staff, I jumped to the side as the monster rolled a giant stream of lightning in front of me. I rolled right under it like I had practiced with Mjoll. I had these moves drilled into me so much that my muscles had them all memories and my relaxed mind had no time to hesitate and consider other methods of fighting. My mind thought and my muscles obeyed. This was drunken boxing; I understood it.

I came up right underneath the arm holding the staff and I brought my staff right down on top of it. I hammered the arm so hard that the arm snapped and the staff fell from his hands. I seemed to grab onto the staff and I raised it to the monster's face. The staff glowed white and it launched right into the thing's face. It cried out in horror as the lightning consumed the thing's head. When the smoke cleared, it was reaching out for my chest. I instinctually brought my own staffs down in a defensive block. I jumped up, kicking the thing in the head.

"You meanie…trying to touch me." I said as I covered my chest. "You pervert!" I tried to kick him in the balls like I did Talvas earlier, but he didn't even lave legs. It snapped its bony arm out and grabbed my personal staff. "Oh…you wanted my staff. Well…I want that mask." I dropped the staff and reached up for his mask. "I'll trade you. My staff for your mask." And I pulled it off his head. "Let's see who's under that mask. Brynjolf, is that you?" There was nothing but a draugr's head underneath the mask. His head looked so ashen and old that I couldn't believe this thing was even alive. "Ooh…you're an ugly one. I've kissed worse." I said as I leaned up to him. "Talvas." I pointed back to him. I leaned in and kissed the thing on the cheek. "You definitely feel cold and old."

There was a loud moan and the monster's face started falling apart like it was made from ash. The whole body followed suit and the whole thing fell apart in my arms. I looked at the mask. Hmm…maybe this was the worse of its magical powers? Or did my kiss kill it? I didn't know. But I suddenly felt like I needed to rinse my mouth out with more sujamma. So, I took another hit and swished it around my mouth a few times before spitting it out onto the ashes of the dead monster. "There…one for my homie." I pounded my chest a couple times before turning to look at Talvas. "Hey, honey-bunny. I have a mask…and a new staff. And my old staff…and…are you listening to me?" I whined to him as I walked over to him. "Wakie wakie, I want eggs and bacy."

By the time I got up to him, I felt like sitting down for a few minutes. "Ok…I'm tired." I looked for our backpack and started pulling out the blanket. I dragged it over to Talvas and lied down on top of him. He was still breathing, so I was glad he was still alive. "Good nighty night." I said as I kissed him on the cheek. "Hmm…think I preferred the monster." That was the last thought before I passed out.

…

"Veselle…" I felt a shake on my shoulder. I felt that headache again and my eyes throbbed. "Get up. That thing might still be here."

I knocked his hand away. "No, I killed it." I gestured to his thermos in my hands. "Drank more stuff to do it. Need water; go get me some."

He nodded. I heard him walking around. Next thing I know, he's prodding me in the shoulder. "You smell like sujamma. Did you pour it all over yourself or something?"

"Or something." I replied as I sat up and took the thermos handed to me. My head rolled with the room and I felt that splitting thing again. "Last time I do that…ever." I screwed off the lid and downed the whole thing. It felt good to have real liquids inside me. I stuck out my hand and waited until Talvas helped pull me up. I found my two staffs with the mask I collected from the thing. "I have a new staff now. It shoots powerful lightning from it.

He nodded. "I know…I was on the receiving side of it." He reached down for his robes and I could see the giant hole in his robes. I could see his perfect abs. They were lightly charred from the hit, but I could see the marks fading away. He must have been using Restoration magic.

I sighed a relief. That thing that I managed to kill must have been the source of that dark magic I felt. And just as I let my guard down, I felt a very powerful brush against my neck, like someone had just licked me back there. I turned around and found my eyes drifting to the doorway leading to some staircase. The…whatever it was was calling me. I nodded to Talvas. "I feel that…energy again. It's here. Right…" I pointed to the doorway. "in there."

He took the sparky staff and handed me mine. He got in front and started carefully walking up to the exit. I followed behind him with the backpack. Once I got to see around the edge, I could see the source of all those bad feelings. It was a book sitting on a pedestal. It seemed to be radiating with black magicka; something so foul that I didn't even want to touch it. Talvas seemed to have no regard for its power though. "Is this what you were talking about?" He walked right up to it and picked it up.

He started reaching for the cover and I screamed, "Talvas, don't!" He snapped it shut again, and I ran up to him. "Just throw it in the bag. We'll take it back to Master and have him check it out." Talvas tossed it inside the bag and zipped it shut.

He looked over at me. "I can feel air, Veselle…coming from this stairwell leading up. I think we're close to an exit."

"Oh thank the gods!" I cried and ran into his arms. "Let's just get out of here!"

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I like this whole drunken boxing Veselle stuff. Might use it more. Not sure. we'll find out. And someone brought up something about a mask. I legitimately freaked out about the mask. i was like 'what mask'? I never knew anything about a mask! And then I thought about the dragon priest. Oh yeah...they all wear masks. Not a big matter for me, I guess. I never really cared about them, but it made an interesting way for Veselle to kill it. yay!  
_


	14. New steward

**Cearbhail**:

__Yup, another chapter done. And it will be the last one for a while. Need to catch up on the other stories, you know? Don't worry, maybe a week, maybe less. Anyway, I had fun with this chapter. Another new character...well, a few actually. Ok, a lot of new characters. Some will stay, some will...well...be in Raven Rock. Oh, you'll understand.  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_It's like midnight. The sun has already set and we've just arrived back to Raven Rock. We managed to escape the mine alive. After Talvas took care of me and treated my poison, we ran into a doorway we needed to get past. He managed to open the doorway up and we found a trap hallway. Talvas got me drunk and I found out that when I drink alcohol I'm basically a badass martial artist…I mean more than I already am of course. I pretty much danced around the room filled with traps and I don't really remembered what happened, but next thing I knew we were fighting this ghost thing with a weird mask and a powerful staff which is now my staff. I got myself drunk again and beat the crap out of it, I think. I don't know, it's really fuzzy. But I woke up and Talvas was already up on his feet ready to go. We collected this really weird book that I want Master to look it. It seems to vibrate with dark magicka and I don't like it. I think he'd be better looking at such a thing._

_Well, we found a staircase that led up. It led us right to some reaver lair. Talvas really wanted inside so he took the fight right to them when they tried to tie us up and do stuff to us, mostly me. Talvas tore them up and I kicked several of them in the balls. All in all, it was a pretty quick defeat. And I got to test my new staff out on a Reaver Lord. That was fun. Melted his head right off his shoulders. We ran from the camp and found ourselves on the shoreline. We swam for a bit to get away from some distant archers shooting at us. Once we got away, we could see Raven Rock. And now…we're finally back. I can't wait to go home and get this over with._

_Veselle._

_…_

Raven Rock was all in a buzz by the time we entered the bulwark. Redoran guards ran up to greet up, hands armed with swords and shields. There were easily more than we could handle. The Redoran guards rushed up to us, their shields raised. I backed up, bumping into Talvas's back. "Talvas?"

He grabbed me by my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. "I don't think they're here to hurt us, Vess." He said. "They would have just shot us with arrows."

The guards surrounded us, and the ones behind us but their backs to ours. One of the guards pulled out a crystal ball and waved his hand over it. "Sir, we've got them. They're safe."

"Great. Bring them to the mine." I heard Captain Veleth's voice through the ball.

"What's going on?" I asked the guards surrounding us.

One of the guards looked down at me. "We're on full alert. We've been attacked the past three days by ash spawn and ash guardians. We were told to give you a full escort to the mine when you got here." The guards rushed as they led us straight to the mine. Several other guards rushed up to the bulwark, pulling out their weapons. "And if you think we're worse off…Tel Mithryn was attacked last night."

"It was?" Talvas asked. "Was anyone hurt?"

The guard nodded. "The steward was out collecting some canis root for Master Neloth…she was killed before the attack started. Then something happened, and Lord Neloth came out to investigate. He took the fight to them. He can tell you more."

I felt the book in my backpack hiss with enjoyment. It wanted war…something to confuse us and make us run around in circles. I couldn't explain it but…I felt like this book was a piece of whatever was going on around here. I looked over at Talvas. "This book…it seems pleased by what happened at our town."

Talvas glanced at me skeptically. "A book? Veselle…it's a _book_."

"It's an _evil_ book." I said to him as I looked back at the guards. "Is Master Neloth here?"

The guard nodded. "He came here to find you. He tried to call you but there was some interference on your crystal ball. He came to collect you and bring you back for battle."

Battle? But…if he was here, who was guarding Tel Mithryn? The guards led us right up the staircase leading to the mine. The lead guard nodded to us and opened the mine door behind us, ushering us inside. He closed the door behind us. I saw Crescius standing over a table with Master Neloth. They were both looking over some map of the tunnels underneath the mine. "This is where I heard the girl scream." Crescius pointed to somewhere on the map.

"I think I understand. I will go on and bring them back." He looked up from the map. He turned for the mine, but once the door clicked shut, he turned to look at us. He sighed with relief. I could see six staffs all strapped to his back. I could see the scarring on his cloak. He looked like he hadn't slept in well…ever. Which he doesn't so he didn't really look all that different. "Veselle, Talvas? You are unharmed?" I smiled as I ran up to Master Neloth, wrapping him up in a hug. He begrudgingly hugged me back, tapping me on the back awkwardly. "There, there. You're still alive."

"Master!" I started crying into his chest. "It was so horrible. Can I please make Talvas forget the whole thing?"

He looked down at me, eyes wide. "You want to…erase Talvas's memory, not your own?"

I nodded. "We did things I'm not proud of."

Master sighed. He stuck out his hands, warm magic glowing in them. He placed his hand on my head and I felt him scanning my memories. I started reliving all the things I did when I was drunk. I didn't know I did even half of that. He pulled his hand off me and stuck his hand at Talvas. Before he could do anything, Master shot a green orb at him. It smacked Talvas right in the head and he took a step back. He reached for his head. "Ow…" He shook the green mist away. "Why do I feel like I've forgotten something?"

Master looked down at me and then over to Talvas. "I have hidden some of Veselle's more…embarrassing acts from your memory of the quest." He said and turned to face Crescius. "It would seem that my students have successfully cleaned out the mines."

I nodded. "We killed all the bad things." I pulled my backpack down and pulled out Gratian's journal. "Here is your ancestor's journal." I tossed it to him and he caught it. He opened it up and started reading.

"It would seem that the Company hid Gratian's death and blamed it on the mine's collapse. I guess this means the mine is safe to use again. Great…I'll start getting some miners ready to mine the ebony from inside it." Crescius smiled and bowed slightly to me. "Thank you, little girl. Because of you, Raven Rock is not dead yet."

I turned to Master and reached into my backpack. "Oh, Master. There is something I want to show you."

"Not more memories, I hope." He mumbled as I pulled out the blackish book. His eyes showed some surprise as he reached down to take the book. Once he grabbed onto it, I felt a shift in the book's evil energy. It was screaming in both pain and in joy. Master smirked. "Where…oh where…did you find this?" His voice was faint, like he was lost in his own world. "This…I've never felt any tomes like this before." He looked up at me. "This is very dangerous magic you've discovered. Did you open it?"

I shook my head. "No…It felt wrong."

He nodded. "Wrong indeed. But wrong can still mean powerful and resourceful." He held it in his hands and ran his hand over the leather cover. "Such power and knowledge behind this cover." He fuddled with the book, obviously considering opening it up. He finally sighed and stuffed it back in my bag. "Get that home and put that on my desk. I need to do some research before I commit myself to reading that thing. Actually…" He scratched his chin. "I've seen a book just like that one. In Nchardak." He looked at me. "Veselle, hand me the book. I will go home and prepare for our trip to Nchardak."

"_Our_ trip?" I asked as I pulled out the black book and handed it to him.

Master nodded, taking the book from me. "Yes. It will be a great test of our newest resident, as well as the two farmer kids that want to be students. This new boy is a prodigy like yourself. He's studied magicka in Summerset Isles at the Resonance Institute and heard that I was looking for Telvanni mages. He asked his parents to come train under me. They accepted and I welcomed the boy with open arms. He truly is an interesting one to talk to. I put him in your room until I get done with his room."

"_My_ room?"

Master nodded. "Is there an echo in this place? Yes, _your_ room."

"But…you saw my memories. And you want to put some boy in my room?"

He nodded. "Are you planning on getting drunk and having your way with him? Are you really that susceptible to your base urges? I have no doubt he won't bother you. You'll see. He's…well…he's special."

"_Special_?" What the heck did that mean?

Master sighed. "Well, Veselle. I need to get back to Tel Mithryn and study this book. I will see you at home. But…before you come back, I do have an assignment. I need a new steward. Go find me one. Don't return home until you do. Oh…and make sure they can make a great cup of canis root tea. Oh…and there is one more thing. Tel Mithryn and Raven Rock have been warred upon by the ash spawn. The attacks have increased and I fear that it will only get worse. I may have to put more of my time, my daughter's, and Talvas's on finding out where they are coming from and how to get rid of them. Until such time is passed…you will be on independent study. Do be careful coming home. If you feel the last ash guardian was hard to defeat…wait until you face three at once as I have just coming down here." He didn't wait as he turned to the doorway. He looked back at me and then over to Talvas. "Good work you two. Talvas, you've had a long day. You are on official break. Please use your time repairing your damaged liver with Restoration magic. Take a look at Veselle's whole body if you can. Her liver and brain may have suffered a great defeat…as well as her stomach."

Talvas nodded. "Yes, sir." Master closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with Talvas and Crescius. Talvas looked at me, arching an eyebrow. "What happened down in the mines that you had to have my memories removed?"

I stuck my tongue out. "You'll never know. And you're lucky; if Master didn't do it…I would have done it with my _fists_. I would have beaten your head in until you forgot."

He sighed. "Was I so drunk that I started making out with you?" My face blushed so quickly that he nodded and turned to leave. "Ok…well, sorry I did that. It's hard when you're so cute." He pinched my cheek and I punched him in the side. He grunted and started walking for the door. "Good luck replacing Verona." He turned and left through the door behind him. "I'll see you back at Tel Mithryn." He said to me as he closed the door behind him.

I looked at the old man and crossed my arms. "You almost killed me with that key."

He shrugged. "Sorry?"

I nodded. "Accepted." I snapped around and walked through the door, slamming it behind me. The guards stood by the door, their swords out and ready for whatever may come. I saluted the guards, saying, "Good job, soldiers. Mission: Protect cute little girl accomplished. Return to your bunks and take a nap."

One of the guards looked at the others, snickering. "Maybe we should recruit her as our squad leader."

Another guard looked down at me. "You are still on alert watch, Veselle. Those reavers know what you look like…and if there is a Telvanni witch out there collecting bodies…she may want yours next. We're here to protect you." I guess that made sense, but I didn't want them following me all day.

"Well…just walk around town and keep suspicious people from causing trouble." I sighed as I walked down into the market square. It was in the middle of the night so…everyone was asleep. I looked back at the guards, sighing. "Ok…I'll admit, it's creepy out here. Um…go ahead and keep watch over me. Are you guys going to escort me home too?"

They nodded. "We are your assigned body squad. We're team Alchemy. Team Battle will replace us at 0600." The guard with the red painted band around his shoulder said as he pounded his chest. That red ring on his right shoulder plate probably meant that he was the squad leader or something. I really didn't know.

I nodded to the leader. "Ok…thanks. Any of you guys know someone who would like to become Master Neloth's steward?"

They shared a look for a second before they busted up laughing. "See, we _should_ recruit her! She'd just make our lives so much easier." I puffed my cheeks in fake anger and I tapped my foot in the ash of the ground. The same guard looked at me, putting his hand up. "Sorry, Veselle. It's just…there is no one in town crazy enough to put up with him."

"Well…I can't return home until I find someone. And that means I'll have to buy a home here and put everyone in constant trouble since I can't control my flames yet. I could get emotional and blow up half the town." I said in fake horrified pout.

The leader sighed. "Try in the Retching Netch. Bet someone there is drunk enough to say 'yes'."

And so I did just that. I sighed as I stepped into the Retching Netch. It was an inn…as well as a cornerclub. People were sitting in the tables, all drinking something with alcohol in it. Probably sujamma…or flin. I didn't really care to be honest. I looked around. There was some guy dressed in full chitin armor. He just sat there, staring at me through his traveling turban chitin mask, complete with an ash filter. There was a screen so tiny weaved that it kept all the ash from entering his breathing tube. And there was a hole underneath it where all the ash fell when he exhaled. It was one of our better ideas throughout our time living in ash storms.

Sitting at another table was this richly dressed Orc with a brute-looking Dunmer standing near him. I didn't know much about him, but I got a certain look in his eyes that told me I should stay away from him. I decided to take my chances with the masked chitin merc. I waved to him and walked up to him. I bowed to him, gesturing to the chair. "Mind if I sit?" He waved me to join him and dipped his head in respect to me. I pulled a stool out and jumped up. He waited there, still looking at me. I waited for him to say something, but he never did. "I have a question." He didn't move anything, but he did start tapping his finger on the table, like he was starting to get impatient. "Um…my name is Veselle Tenvanni. I'm an apprentice to Lord Neloth, over at Tel Mithryn. It would seem that his steward was killed by ash spawn. Master Neloth wanted me to find a replacement for her. Would you…um…be willing to…you know…take her spot?"

He looked at me and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pad and a quill. He dipped his quill in an ink pot sitting on the table. He started writing on his pad. He tore a page off and handed it to me. I held it up and read it. _I'm not steward material. I'm a soldier; a mercenary. If you need a guard, I will be more than willing to assist._

I nodded to him. "Well, I'm sure we could use one now that we've been attacked more. Mind coming back with me to talk to Master Neloth about it?" He nodded and stuck out his hand for a handshake. I shook on it. "Ok, I'm going to go find a steward now. I'll be back once I find him or her." He nodded and I wrote out on his pad again. He pulled it off and passed it to me. _My name is Teldryn Sero. It is a pleasure to meet you, Veselle Tenvanni._ I bowed to him and stepped away from his table. I looked down the stairs and heard someone laughing down there. So, I went down the stairs, finding a whole other level down here. People were drinking, singing, and dancing. I noticed some of the people from town dancing and drinking sujamma. It seemed like a fun time and I really wanted to join them. The problem was that I really wanted to get home and collapse on my bed.

I walked through the dancers up to the bartender. He eyed me as I sat down. "I need some help."

He blinked while he wiped down a shot glass. "I can't serve you, if that's what you mean. You're just a child."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I've already crossed that bridge last night. I've drank enough to put everyone here under the table twice."

"You probably shouldn't do that." He admitted and handed me a shot glass. "Want some non-alcoholic cider?"

I shrugged. "Sure. But…" He poured me a glass of cider and passed it to me. "I'm really here to find a steward for Mater Neloth."

The bartender nodded. "Everyone comes here with some sort of sob story; I guess you gave up when no one would take you up on the offer?"

I shook my head. "I only just started. Know anyone who would…you know…put up with him?"

"Besides you?" He asked sarcastically. He turned around and looked at some guy stocking the shelves with flin and sujamma. "Hey, Drovas! Didn't you want to serve the Telvanni Lord Neloth?"

He turned and nodded. "Of course, sir! It was always my dream to serve the man that saved my life the night of the Argonian raid."

The bartender pointed to me. "Today's your lucky day. Lord Neloth needs a new steward. Think you can handle that?"

Drovas smiled, jumping up and down…basically fanboying all over the place. "Oh my gods, oh my gods… can I? Can I really?" He asked as he ran up to me, grabbing both my hands and squeezing them. He jumped up and down while clamping down on my hands, squeezing them like…well, I don't have anything to compare it to, sorry. Was he being sarcastic…or was he being serious?

He looked so enthusiastic, that I looked away, squinting at him. "Are you serious?" He nodded, so I looked back at him. "Ok…but before I say 'yes.' Can you make canis root tea?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, a thousand times YES!" He screamed to the ceiling and I looked back at the bartender. The bartender shrugged and I got the feeling he was saying, 'He's your problem now.' Great…but…I kinda like this energy he has. If he maintains this enthusiasm, life at the Telvanni mushroom town would be so much…well…lively.

I looked back at Drovas and forced a large smile. "Ok…you're in. Come with me; I'll take you back to Tel Mithryn with…um…our new guard." I tried to reach for my glass of cider, but Drovas grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs. He actually tried to rush me because he wanted to move into the steward's house as soon as possible. I reached out for my glass of cider, wishing it a great journey to find someone worth drinking it. Drovas pulled me to the exit and I looked over at Teldryn and waved him to join us. He stood up from his table, securing his elven blade to his belt and jogging to catch up with us. The Redoran guards outside were still waiting for me. When Drovas pulled me outside, he started pulling me towards Tel Mithryn. I looked back at Teldryn and the guards. "Ok…we're going back to Tel Mithryn now. Hope everyone is ok with that."

The walk back to Tel Mithryn was harder than it normally was. Ash spawn would pop out of the ground and shoot balls of ash at us. I got to see the Redoran guards do their jobs. Three of them took out their bows and started shooting arrows at the monsters. The other three drew their swords and charged in. I took off my two staffs and put Drovas behind me. "Stay behind me. You're my ticket home to my bed. So…stay here." I stood by and let the guards do their job.

Teldryn unsheathed his elven blade and walked in front of me. He handed me a slip of paper. _My payment for my services to House Telvanni is to become a full member of House Telvanni. Agreed?_

I shrugged. "You have to speak to Master Neloth about that." Teldryn nodded and brought his sword up into the air. Magicka started glowing around his body, collecting into his blade. His blade started shooting lightning all around until it covered the whole blade. He pushed off the ground, disappearing into this really fast sprint that I could barely track. A trail of ash flew up right behind him like a giant wall. He reappeared behind a couple ash spawn. He spun his sword and the lightning rolled off his blade like I saw with the red blade Talvas collected earlier. His blade seemed to disrupt the ash in the ash spawn. They started falling apart long enough for him to reach and grab the heart stones. He flashed from one opponent to the next, each one falling underneath his blade like it was nothing. He helped the Redoran guards mop up the remaining heart stones and ash spawn.

When the battle finished, the guards formed up around me, Teldryn standing right next to me with his sword unsheathed. He put it in front of me like he was using it as a shield for me. The rest of the walk was pretty easy, really. We got back to Tel Mithryn, which was surrounded by a massive protection circle, bigger than any I had seen earlier. Master must have thrown it up to keep anyone from attacking the tower. The Redoran guards weren't able to enter so I bowed to them and said goodnight to them. They concluded their duty and returned to Raven Rock. I gave permission to Drovas and Teldryn to enter the circle. They were able to cross and I directed them to the large tower.

"Ok, guys. Master Neloth is up there. Just go talk to him. Well…Teldryn, I guess you'll just have to write to him." I bowed to them both. "I hope to see you first thing in the morning. If Master is unsure of either of you, tell him I gave you my full assurance that you both belong here."

Teldryn nodded and stuck out his hand for a handshake. I shook his hand but he pulled me in for a hug. He patted me on the back and gestured for Drovas to take the lead. The two of them walked to the tower, while Teldryn looked around for any threats that might somehow breach the circle of protection. I doubt it, though. But he kept his hand resting on his sword's pummel. He'd be a great member of our growing family. Speaking of which…I think I had someone waiting for me in my room.

I pulled my leather door cover open and walked inside. There, lying in the corner of the room was someone roughly younger than me. He looked 12ish? It's hard to tell with boys; they don't go through their growth spurts as quickly as girls did. He wasn't sleeping; he was reading a book. He looked at me and then went back to his book. I nodded to him and I stuck out my hand, waving to him. "Hi, I'm Veselle Tenvanni. I'm guessing you're my new roommate?"

The boy sat up, looking at me. He cleared his throat and pulled out a massive pile of paper. "I've taken this opportunity to draft up our first roommate agreement." He stood up and passed it to me. "Since it is your room, I made it favorable to you. Section One affirms that the 'bed'…" He made air quotes. "is your spot and that I will not interfere with your spot. However, this corner of the room…" He gestured to where he was sitting. "is _my_ spot. Do not enter my spot; do not breathe in my spot. If there was one spot on the planet that I said revolved around my entire being…this is that one spot. So, don't go near it. Section 2 covers all forms of personal contact. There will be none. Do not touch me, I don't want your nasty germs on me. Section 3 covers whistling. There will be none. I, in turn, will not practice throat singing. Section 4…"

…

317 sections later, I was finally allowed to sign the fierfeking paper and lie down on my bed. But, by the time I could do so, Master Neloth was already entering my room, screaming, "It's time to wake up, Apprentices. We have quite a journey on our hands. Nchardak awaits." I sighed as I put a pillow on my head.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, I tried to make it painfully obvious. The new apprentice is modeled off of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Yeah, I thought it would be nice to have someone like him in the story. Anyway, Teldryn will be like that superhero mercenary batman, bloodstain personality. He'll start talking soon. Maybe. I haven't decided yet. But he's a pretty badass spellsword nontheless. Enjoy the future readings.  
_


	15. Egg-citing fight

**Cearbhail**:

__Oh man, oh man. So many things happen that...Ok. I guess I couldn't hide it forever...and now... you will all find out the truth. Well, part of it at least. I'm certain you might learn more if you think about it for a few seconds. Oh well...  
__

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 2nd of Mid Year. It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since we started studying Nchardak. We can't even get past the doorway inside the 'library' in the entranceway. And we keep having to kill reavers every time we go back to study more. But, it's nice to get away from Tel Mithryn every once in a while. And inside Nchardak is one of those black books, except it's like covered with this glass thing that we can't get through or past. Master Neloth went hyper crazy trying to blast the thing open, but it didn't do very much if anything at all. And so, we keep going back, trying to find clues as to how to open the place. We hadn't gotten anywhere and it was starting to bother me. Finally, after a while, Master found some sort of pedestal that he examined. And then he just left with the new kid: Azarien Julareth. Said something about other Dwemer ruins he needed to search and wanted me to stay at the tower with Brelyna and Talvas._

_Speaking of which, that kid is…crazy. Seriously OCD and…I don't even know how to explain it. I've been his roommate for a couple weeks now, and in that time he's only made me hate living in my own room. All these stupid agreements I signed to…I hate it. I hate it; I hate him. It's gotten to the point where I'll not even come back to the room, but go over to Talvas's room, climb into his bed while he's sleeping, and nod off for a couple hours before he'll wake up, pick me up, and toss me out. Maybe if I hadn't erased his memory he'd let me stay, but then I'd feel uncomfortable sleeping with him. And when I get kicked out of his room, I usually go over to the farmhouse and sleep in the guest hut outside in the garden. They usually wake me up first thing in the morning. Speaking of which, dawn is breaking._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my journal as I heard Seth closing the screen door to the farmhouse behind him. The guest hut, which I was kind of sleeping in right now, was near the house, but still not really part of it. They built it one day when they found me sleeping with their cows in the feeding stall/hay house. They put in a spare bed in case I ever found myself needing to sleep out here again. And I'd been here maybe every day since Azarien got on my nerves that first time. And with every morning, Seth and Zera would come outside and do their morning chores before joining me for morning drills with Brelyna.

I made sure I was fully clothed before Seth got to the doorway, tapping on it. "Hey, Vess. You awake yet?"

"Yup!" I called out to him. "Just woke up not even two minutes ago."

"Good to hear it." Seth called back to me through the wooden doorway. "Feel like collecting some eggs with me and my sis?"

"Sure." I called out and slid my journal into my back pouch. I clasped my crimson belt to my dark red training robes, making sure it sat perfectly over my hips and that my training robes were unwrinkled. I checked for some hay before I started pulling my hair back into my twintails. I exited through the small doorway leading to the backyard. The sunlight was barely even breaking over the crest of the ocean, and I could see the bright red flare of the Red Mountain in the distance. I could see the dark cloud hovering over Vvardenfell. That large cloud was filled with ash, and I'm guessing it was on its way over here. "We really need to put a weather protection circle over this whole village."

Seth, who was leaning against the guest bedroom's wall, looked up at the approaching cloud as well. "Won't be good for our crops." He sighed. "You know the pigs eat the ash yams we grow…and when they're covered in ash, the pigs get sick." He sighed, looking over at me. "You look nice today."

I smiled to him and scanned him. He was already dressed in his dark red training clothes, but they were wrinkled and torn near the kneecaps and elbows. Slight tears in the sleeves and the collar pretty much told me just how much work he did in them. They were heavily stained with ash as well. "You've only had those for a week. How'd you ruin them already?"

"I do all my farm work in them." He shrugged. "And Destruction's not easy. I remember you told me you read a tome to learn flame magicka…my sis and I didn't get one of those fancy tomes." He said begrudgingly. "It's very hard to create something from nothing when you don't know whatcha doin'."

"Sorry." I hadn't thought it would be for them to learn magicka from scratch. But it was their choice to become wizards like Master Neloth. The whole family was learning, but it wasn't full time like I was. They were farmers first so they did their magicka studies when they had time. I suggested learning Conjuration first so that they could get some helpers with their farming. They rejected the idea, saying that farming with hired (or non-hired) help was the Dres family's thing…not Telvanni. They wanted to be farmers still, but they wanted to be Telvanni Lords as well. I couldn't help but be inspired by them. They did so much work as a family together. I wished I had a family. The closest thing I had was this village: Master Neloth…Talvas… that was about it. Well, the place had really grown since then, I guess. Now we had the silent watchman Teldryn that looked over us. He was pretty cool. Master Neloth actually trained with him, stating that he was the only one among us that could give him a slight challenge. Teldryn was considered a full Telvanni Wizard already, not a Lord like Master was, but a full-fledged Telvanni Master. That's impressive, I think.

Seth looked over at me, sticking a thin piece of hay in his mouth to chew on. It laid there lazily as he looked over the farm. "It's not your problem." He said to me as he fiddled around with the long piece of hay. He pushed off the wall and glanced over at me, smiling. "Ready to collect some eggs?"

I nodded. "Yup."

Seth started walking over to the chicken coop; I was following behind him, looking at the rows of corn that was starting to grow normally. When they moved here, they had to grow their crops all over again. All that corn, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and lettuce had to be grown from scratch. Not to mention all the hay and wheat they were growing. Their farm wasn't that big, but it was certainly big enough to supply plenty of hay and wheat for the animals. And the rest of the food for the family. The farm had actually grown in size since I left for that quest in the mines two weeks ago. Now they had pigs and more cows. They ordered them in from Cyrodiil. And with all those new additions, the family was even busier making sure everyone was fed.

"It's nice to see the farm is so big. You know, with all the ash spawn attacking us, we thought we'd never be able to keep our farm. But now…look at it." He waved his hands at the growing corn crops. "We can rebuild…make a home." He looked at me, showing me a toothy smile. "And you saved us." I felt my face blushing over as he kissed me on the cheek. He ducked into the chicken coop. I waited for a second, staring at the empty spot where he was standing a few seconds ago. He poked his head out of the chicken coop to look up at me. "You coming?"

I looked around for a second. Zera was busy collecting apples out of my garden, his mother milking cows, and his dad pulling up come carrots that looked ready to eat. I shrugged and ducked into the chicken coop. Four rows of chickens lied in their little hay beddings; one row on the ground, the second a couple feet above them. Seth started collecting eggs on the right side, grabbing the basket on the nail. I reached for the basket on the left wall and started looking down at my first chicken. I hadn't collected eggs before…this was a first. "So…um…"

He glanced at me, smiling at me with his toothy smile. "Yeah, sorry for the kiss. It was a thank you for you know…keeping my family safe. I hadn't gotten the chance to thank you yet."

I shrugged that off. "Oh, I wasn't going to ask. I was going to ask…" I pointed to the chicken. "Any rules?"

"Yeah, don't squeeze the egg too hard when you grab it…and place it gently into the basket. No dropping it, ok?" He said as he demonstrated. He nuzzled the chicken up and grabbed two eggs in one hand very gently. He slid his hand out and slowly placed the eggs into the basket. "See…nice and easy."

I nodded and looked back at my first chicken. Ok…I've handled flames…I've summoned gods…I think I can pick up one egg. I reached down at the chicken. It looked up at me with curiosity, knowing that it had never seen me before. As I got my hand closer, the thing pecked at my hand. I pulled my hand away as fast as I could.

"Don't mind Yippy…she's just nervous." Seth called from his fifth chicken down the first row.

"Ok…" I said to him and looked back at the chicken. When I met her eyes, she brought her wings up like she was going to fight me. "Um…nice Yippy." She leapt from her spot, flying right up to my face. She started kicking me on my forehead. I screamed and tried to bat her away, but whatever I did forced her to flap up to the top of my head. She sat down for a second and I stood there completely still for a second. I felt something warm and then she jumped off my head, landing in her completely empty bedding. I still felt something on top of my head.

Seth started laughing as he looked over at me. "Seems like Yippy left you a present." He snickered as he walked over to me. I reached up to grab whatever it was and I found out when I my hand smashed it to my head. I felt an ooze flow down my hair and I saw the yolk dripping from my fingers as I pulled it away to look at it. Yippy had laid an egg on top of my head.

Yippy and Seth both laughed as my face dripped with egg whites. Well, Yippy was clucking and flapping her wings madly like she was throwing a fit that I crushed her egg. I looked at Seth and glared at him. "You will tell this to no one."

"Oh come on." He said between chuckles. "Don't get egg on your face." He set the basket down.

"Seth…" I warned him as I saw a familiar sparkle in his eyes that meant he was getting started on a joking spree.

"Weren't _egg_-specting that?" He drawled on as he picked up his basket and started collecting more eggs. "An egg on the head is worth two in the bed."

"Seth…" I warned him one more time. If he made one more joke, I would smash an egg on his head and see how he liked it.

He sighed. "Ok, I get it. You're all scrambled from the _egg_-sperience. No reason to give up so over easy. You need to look on the sunny-side up of things." He said as he started on his second round. He looked over at me, smiling. "Oh, come on, Vess. Cheer up. I'm just…"

"Don't say it…" I warned him. I think I knew what he was going to say next, and if he did…I was so chucking at egg at him.

"egging you on…" He finished. And I reached for the chicken next to Yippy, digging my hands for an egg to pull up. The chicken flapped up in confusion as I started digging around. I found an egg and pulled it up. I reeled back and chucked it at Seth. Seth didn't have time to dodge and the egg slammed him right on the nose. He flopped back, slamming into the wall support behind him. He was laughing as he started pulling egg off his face. "Ok then…" He chuckled and started reaching into his basket.

"Seth…" I warned him as I started backing for the exit. "Don't…"

"Why not?" He asked as he pulled out two eggs and ran for me. I screamed as I turned around but I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me by the back of my robe's collar and pulled it back far enough that he slammed two eggs on the back of my neck. I felt it ooze down my neck onto my back, making me arch backwards. "Afraid to fight me, Vess? You know you'll lose."

I growled as I reached into the basket he was carrying and I grabbed two eggs per hand. I slammed all four on his face. When he reeled back, I grabbed two more and slammed them on top of his head. He was shorter than me by a few inches so it was pretty easy. I crossed my arms as he stood there with yolk dripping down his face. He opened his eyes and glared at me, cracking a smile. "This was fun but…" He said as a defeat. "We need to save some for the family." He started wiping egg off his face and went back to collecting eggs.

While it was fun to smash eggs in Seth's face, I went back to my third chicken. I reached under her gently and started feeling around. I could feel a solid mass so I pulled it out, happy to see that I found an egg. I repeated the process several times with each chicken, happy to see that I had collected a lot before starting on my second row. "Sorry about all that." I said to Seth when I got to the second row. He already finished with his and started helping me by starting on the other side of the row.

He laughed. "No problem, Vess. It's just nice to play with someone other than my sister for once." He looked at me, smiling. "Besides, you're part of our family now, Vess." He went back to picking out eggs. "You may not realize this, but we're very thankful for what you've done for us. You saved us…gave us a new home…helped us rebuild our crops…even let us use your garden. And you're cute."

I looked over at him. He was too busy collecting eggs to look up at me. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "Yup. Maybe it's the savior goggles or somethin' but I find you mighty nice to be around."

I had to admit, I did find it fun to be around him too. I liked messing with Talvas and all but… he was just a little too old to play with me. Seth was actually just a few months younger than me so…we liked to play the same stuff. Like smashing each other with eggs. That was fun. I doubt Talvas would do something like that with me. He'd probably roll his eyes and tell me just how evil I was to him. I don't think he realizes just how much I like to play with him. He just finds me annoying. But Seth was fun to be around. And so was his sister, Zera. She was a little out there, but she was just as funny as Seth was.

I looked past Seth, hoping to see what Zera was up to. I could see her trying to wrestle a pig to the ground. She had long hair that reached pretty far down to the ground, almost touching to her knees. After I saved their family, she started wearing her hair back in twintails like me because she thought it would make her braver too. Seeing her use her twintails to tie the pig up underneath her make me laugh.

Seth looked from me over to his sister. "Oh…Zera! You're all covered in mud."

"Lighten up, brother!" She called from the mud pit where they kept their pigs. "I'm just playing with Verver."

Seth looked back at me, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about all this." He sighed. "Looks like she'll need a bath before we can go to training."

I shrugged. "Well…since Brelyna is out at Raven Rock… Talvas is our instructor for today. I'm sure he won't mind waking up in a couple hours. I know he hates it when I wake him up early."

Seth nodded. "Ok." He nudged me to follow him outside the coop. "Help me carry these eggs inside?" I nodded and followed behind him. I looked down at the basket filled with ten or so eggs. They would have enough to last them for a couple days…if they didn't share them with the rest of Tel Mithryn, which they did. We pretty much shared everything in Tel Mithryn nowadays. Even my bedroom wasn't safe. And since Master was always busy looking for whatever he was looking for…he never got a chance to make Azarien's room. Which meant, I still had to share a room with him. And while they hadn't been here in almost a week…I was still getting random Illusions of Azarien popping up in my room to remind me of every condition of which I had to uphold…even when he wasn't around. That's why I try to stay out of my room.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in your backyard." I said to Seth. He shrugged as we walked up to the back porch. His father was sitting in his rocking chair, sharpening a knife on his leather strip. He nodded a welcome to me as I walked up the stairs. I bowed to him. "Morning, sir."

"Why are the two of you covered in eggs?" He asked as he shook his head in amusement.

I looked at Seth and gave him a strong set of evil eyes, willing him to not say anything. "Yippy laid an egg on Vess's head and I laughed at her when she accidentally smashed it. She threw an egg at me, and that sort of led to an _egg_-citing fight." He glanced at me, sticking his tongue out.

I pulled out and egg and threw it at him, scoring him right on the cheek. "Enough of those egg puns."

Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked over at me. He smiled a bit as he leaned back in his chair. "Thank you for helping my son with the morning eggs, Veselle."

I bowed to him. "Not at all, sir. You let me sleep in the backyard so…it's no problem."

"If you need to take a shower, feel free to use ours." He implied.

I shook my head. "I'll use the one inside the bathhouse." Oh yeah, this entire time I hadn't mentioned the bathhouse that had been built. It had a boys' side, and a girls' side. It was an Altmeri design but it was nice. Two giant heated pools to relax in with shower stalls inside the building to rinsing and cleaning with. We were supposed to use the showers to clean ourselves before going to the massive bathing pools to relax. I would just go and clean up in there.

"I'll join you." Zera exclaimed as she jogged up to me. She was covered head-to-toe in mud, her twintails completely undone and her hair was sticking up every direction you could imagine. The only things that weren't drenched in mud were her bright pink eyes that glanced up at me.

Mr. Vedes sighed as he looked down at her. "Zeratah!" He started using his disciplining voice. "What have I told you about wrestling with the pigs?"

She looked up at him. "To change out of my training robes?"

He nodded. "Yes. You tore your last ones and you're only supposed to wear them while working with magicka."

She sighed. "But I love wearing my robes!" She hugged her mud-laden body. "I feel like Vessy when I wear them."

He sighed, looking at me. "She takes good care of her robes."

I glanced down at my robes. They looked brand new because every time I ruined them, I had Kyuu fix them for me with his heal beam. If only he knew the truth that I usually ended up incinerating them with each fire-based attack that I did…at least until I learned how to control my fire magicka. Right now I was working with Frost, which was difficult for me. I was very emotional, and trying to summon magicka with a cold emotionless aura was difficult. Now I had to worry about freezing my robes, which happened a couple times already. Once time I got frozen in my own robes and I wasn't able to move for a few minutes. Kyuu had to use his fire magicka to make the robes defrost before they shattered. That happened once too.

I looked over at Zera and patted her on her head. "Don't worry, we'll get you cleaned up. Go meet me in the bathhouse."

"Yay!" She screamed and ran off for the bathhouse.

I looked back at Mr. Vedes and handed him the basket of eggs. "Thank you for your hospitality, sir."

He took the basket of eggs from me and smiled. "You're always welcome here, Veselle." He looked over at Seth and nodded to him, handing him the basket. "Draseth, take these inside and help your mother. Then go get washed up and ready for breakfast."

Seth nodded, taking the eggs from his father. "Yes, dad." He looked back at me, smiling. "See you for practice, Vess?"

"Yup." I said as I turned around. I felt sticky from the eggs rolling down my back and my hair . I couldn't wait to get in the bath. I looked around the town as I walked over to the bathhouse. Teldryn was walking over to the farm for breakfast and he looked over at me through his masked face. I never saw him without it. I wondered what he looked like; let alone what he sounded like. He never talked either. I think he talks to Master Neloth, but that was the only time I think he talks. He never says anything to me, but he does help me train. He lets me shoot fire magicka at him, and he works on blocking it.

"_Apprentice_…" I heard a hiss behind me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I didn't see anyone behind me, but I felt someone watching me. "_Come to me, Apprentice._" I felt a tug on my chin and I felt my feet beginning to walk. I started walking for the protection circle nearing the edge of the town. There was someone standing on the very edge of the town, dressed in a black cloak that covered their form. I don't think I could control my feet as they carried me over to the edge of the circle. The black-cloaked figure waited for me at the edge. My feet stopped just a foot away from the circle's edge, where the mysterious person waited for me. They stood just an inch away, their face hidden behind a massive hood that obscured their face from me. I could see their red eyes though. It looked like a Dunmer, but since we're on a Dunmer island, it wouldn't surprise me. "_You were the one I've been looking for…._" The serpentine voice called from behind the hood. The shadow person started walking around the edge of the circle, glancing at me the whole time they shifted back and forth while they paced right outside the barrier. "_You took my test subjects…_" It hissed.

That's when it clicked. This had to be the Telvanni Lord that paid the reavers to steal the Vedes family. "So…you're Ildari then?"

She hissed at the mentioning of her name. "_One does not just say my name so willy-nilly_." She hissed to me. "_You have those…who belong to me. Bring me the boy and the girl…and I shall spare you your life._" She raised her hand and I started getting pulled off my feet. It felt like someone had lifted me up by the collar of my robes and was holding me ten feet up in the air.

"You better just kill me then!" I screamed to her. "I'm not bringing you anyone."

"_You will bring them. I command it._" Her voice slithered into my head and it rattled around in there. "_The heart stones speak through you…as they do me. I am in your head…and you'll join me soon enough…daughter…_" Daughter? But my mom…I didn't remember ever meeting her. Ildari couldn't be my mother…could she? I didn't get a chance to ask her because she had extended her hand. I was thrown forward with such speed and force that I found myself slamming into Talvas's room's wall within a few seconds of being launched. I was stuck there for a second before all pressure released off me. By the time I was able to stand up and look at the protection circle surrounding the town…she wasn't in her spot anymore. Ildari? Mother? That couldn't be right. Ildari was Brelyna's mother…and…now I'm just confused.

Talvas burst through his door, carrying a staff with him. He looked around frantically before looking down at me, rolling his eyes. "Veselle? Can't you wait at _least_ until 7 a.m. to wake me up?"

I looked up at him, my eyes tearing up and my voice cracked in fear. "Talvas? I just met Ildari."

He looked at me and then went back into fighter mode. He ran out of his room, looking around. "Where is she?"

"Gone…" My cracked voice reported. "She wants me to bring her the Vedes children. Or else she'll kill me."

He looked at me, his eyes wide. "We won't let her."

"She was able to pick me up and toss me halfway across Tel Mithryn on the other side of a protection circle…I don't think I can beat her." My voice was cracking up even more and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I hadn't even felt her presence, or her magicka. But the way she was able to pick me up and throw me without any effort told me she could kill me whenever she wanted. And she was able to make me walk to her. That was scary. What could I possibly do to protect myself?

Talvas looked down at me. He could see how scared I was. He walked up to me, wrapping me in his arms and hugged me close to him. "We'll keep you safe…we'll keep you all safe." He whispered to me, before pulling me inside his room. He closed the door behind us and gestured me to take a seat on his bed. I was a little reluctant because it seemed like a bad opening to what could happen next, but I sat down anyway. Talvas didn't take another look at me though. He locked the door behind him and set up a protection ward around his room. He sat down at his desk and grabbed his crystal ball. He waved his hand over the ball, saying, "Master Neloth…" like he was in a trance.

The ball sat there quietly for a few seconds until Master Neloth's face appeared on the screen. "Yes, Talvas…what is it? This had better be important, we're close to finding something out, of that I am quite sure."

"Master, something has happened." Talvas said to him. "Master Ildari attacked Veselle."

"_What_?" He screamed. "Is she ok? She better not be dead. I already lost one person this month; I don't think I can stand losing another to that witch."

"She's fine, Master." Talvas looked back at me, scanning me, and then looking at the ball. "Covered in eggs, a little shaken up, and crying, but she's fine."

"Sounds normal then." Master Neloth sounded more controlled. "But this is serious. Put Veselle on." Talvas waived for me to join him, so I stood up and walked over to Talvas, sitting on his chair when he stood up to offer it to me. Master Neloth's face showed how worried he was. "What happened, Apprentice? Tell me exactly what happened."

And I did just that. I told him about the whispering I heard and how my feet walked me over to the protection circle. I told him about how she wanted the children we saved and how she lifted me up off the ground; about what she said about the heart stones; and how she tossed me into Talvas's room with no trouble. I left out when she called me her daughter because I didn't know what he'd say to that.

When I finished, Master sighed. "I am returning home immediately. Talvas…" Talvas ran up behind me, putting his head on my shoulder. "I want you to secure everyone in the tower. Make certain to use the Interference circle around the tower. Make certain Teldryn is aware of the situation."

Talvas nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I will be back within a couple hours. I still have to finish up here or Ildari will be one of many concerns." Master nodded to us before his image blinked away.

I looked up at Talvas, my tears still falling from my eyes. My body shook with fear that I had never felt before. "Talvas…"

He hugged me, rubbing the back of my head as he rocked me back and forth. "It's ok, Veselle. You're safe."

I shook my head. "It's not that…" I looked up at him. "She called me her daughter."

His surprised look told me everything I needed to know…he already knew. And that raised so many more questions I had.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did anyone expect that? I had it planned for a while now. And that's not it. Maybe her father...isn't really her father, but someone put in charge of keeping her safe? I'm not sure yet, but that would make her...someone else's daughter. And who might that be? Don't know...maybe someone who specifically said they 'weren't'? Not saying it's factual yet, but i might let it be. Stay tuned. things are going to heat up now. And this part of the arc isn't over just yet.  
_


	16. Veselle's mommy

**Cearbhail**:

_Sorry guys. I know it's been a long time, but I just got back from Japan and you know... Jet lag. So, that's why it's been a while. And I'm also sorry about the length of the chapter. I know it could be longer, much longer. But... I guess it's still pretty awesome. Things happen. A lot of things. For a short chapter, it's pretty involved. Oh well, you'll see. So, in my Ruby story I announced that I will start another new story later on. It was going to involve Ruby's daughter, you know the one, and her journey to Akavir to study the culture and language. It was going to be a humorous story that reflected my own visit to Japan. But, I think it's time I do that story in a male perspective. So, I was thinking, maybe Ruby and Maleek should have a son as well. Why not? I know it didn't happen in the alternate past but things do seem to change after Asger doesn't lose his soul and Lydia doesn't die. We'll see. I'll let you guys guide me on that. If you'd rather see that story in Ranjha running the main perspective rather than whatever his name might be, let me know.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear book of shadows,_

_It is the 3rd of Mid Year. Yesterday, I was attacked by my Master Ildari. Well, threatened was more like it. And that wasn't all. She had called me her daughter. After she finished her chat with me, she picked me up and threw me into Talvas's room's wall. By the time I could get up to run, she was already gone. Talvas ran out and checked up on me, asking me why I was waking him up again. When I told him about Ildari tossing me around like a piece of paper, he rushed me into his room and called Master. Master flipped out and told Talvas to get everyone inside the tower. And that's where we've been the whole day. Locked away in the top of the tower._

_So, I had a chance to ask Talvas about Ildari calling me her daughter. He wouldn't tell me much, but he did tell me that I looked just like her, down to the way I smirk when I scoff and sarcastically put him down. He says I act just like her, according to what he remembered of her when he was a boy, before he became a Telvanni trainee. He said she was nice before the experiment, before she died. But Ildari wasn't dead; I had seen that for myself. She's still very much alive, and I can still feel her watching me… watching the other kids too. She wants them, but I won't let her have them. I have a solution. And I think no one is going to like it. I just hope it doesn't come to that._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my book and looked around the tower. It was pretty busy. Talvas paced around the tower's levitation circle, making sure all his defensive circles were perfectly engaged. The Vedes children were huddled in their parent's arms. Zera was quietly crying into her mother's arms while Seth looked ready to use some magical spell to go hunting for witches. Teldryn leaned against a wall, arms crossed, one of his hands resting on the pummel of his enchanted sword. He hadn't moved since he was told about Master Ildari coming to collect the children. I guess he believed it was better to wait inside the tower where he could watch us. With both Talvas and Teldryn watching, there was no way I could sneak away. But I had to. It was the only way. I was sure of it.

So, I stood up and started walking over to the room with the staff enchanter. I looked back to see if anyone was watching me, and I could see Teldryn's mirrored goggles glaring up at me. So, I smiled at him and waved. "Would anyone like some tea? I'm brewing!"

Talvas looked over at me, nodding. "I'll have a glass. I'm pretty thirsty."

"Great…" I said and walked into the room. I looked around for what I needed. There was a canis root next to some juniper berries and leaves. Ok, that would do; juniper canis root tea. I started crunching the leaves in the mortar with the pestle until it was a fine powder. I checked with one last glance at everyone. They weren't paying attention to me at all. Teldryn had looked away to check on the Vedes children. I took this time to place my palm over the powdered leaves and feed a compulsion sleep spell on the leaves. I started boiling the tea kettle, helping it along by feeding my fire magicka into it. It came to a boil pretty quickly. I poured the leaves into the boiling water. I could feel my magic take hold and then I dipped the canis root in. I stirred it for a couple minutes, feeding even more magic through the root. By the time I was done, my spell had taken full effect and was ready to be served to Talvas and Teldryn.

I carefully poured seven cups of tea, placing them all on a serving tray. I lifted the tray up and stumbled as I tried to carry it out to the waiting drinkers. "Tea's on!" I called to them all. "I made enough for everyone." Talvas and the Vedes family happily rushed over to take some tea. I watched as they all grabbed a cup, taking small sips. The tea had a delayed action of about a minute, so that they'd gradually just fall asleep. Very subtle, I think. So, as they started drinking I smiled up at Teldryn. "Want some tea?"

He shook his head, pulling out his notebook. _I'm on duty. And I don't drink sleep spells on duty._ The note read. What? How did he know? Oh well, it didn't matter now anyway. Zera and her mother were the first to yawn. They both started curling up on the floor, the mother wrapping her arms around Zera. Next it was Seth that started drooping and falling to the ground. The father and Talvas looked up at me.

Talvas yawned as he glared at me. "Veselle? What… why?" He could barely ask as he stumbled over, hitting the floor with a loud _thud_.

The father was the only one to remain standing. "Veselle? If you think you can take my children to that witch…"

"I'm not." I said to him. "I'm going in their place. All she wants is someone to test on. I'll be her test subject. That way she'll leave your children alone. Not to mention, I have some questions for her anyway. She called me her daughter. I want to know if she's my mother or not. If I am her daughter…she won't hurt me anyway." That seemed to be enough for him and he collapsed to a knee, letting out a silent moan as he fell onto the floor. I looked up at Teldryn. "Are you going to stop me?"

I shifted his stance and held out his notebook. _I will do what I must._ He pushed off the wall, unsheathing his sword. He didn't even start to walk up to me. He brought the blade to his own arm and barely slid the sword across his arm. When he did, a light green mist flew off the blade and enveloped his body. He became as stiff as a board and he just stood there. Oh my gods… he had paralyzed himself to give me time. I nodded my thanks to him as I turned and ran for the levitator. I scanned the circles for any restrictions. They were meant to keep someone out, not let someone leave. Good. I held my breath as I jumped down the deactivated levitation spell. As I got towards the bottom, I pushed some magicka out to slow my final descent. I landed in a roll, coming up on my feet and opening the door. I didn't have my staff; I didn't have any special scrolls with me. I was pretty much on my own right now. Well, not alone. I had my spirits with me.

I exited the tower, running past the final protection circle summoned around the house. I felt a bitter chill run down my back as the wind blew right over me. It made me look up into the sky where the bright stars seemed to look down at me in wonder. I wondered if the gods were really watching over us. Would they think I was being brave or stupid? Would they keep me safe? I wasn't really one for the whole religious thing, especially when Maven managed to turn all super Daedra and destroyed half of Riften. But, right now in this cold night, so silent, the only light coming from the stars and the moon standing over us… it was hard not to think about my place in this universe. I was only one person. Would it matter if I just… I don't know… died? I shuddered at the thought. But that was a very distinct possibility right now. I was about to forcibly go after Ildari, a mage far stronger than I'll ever hope to be. And if she didn't like me, she would kill me. But it was the only thing I could think of. Master was nowhere close to being back. And I'm guessing he won't be back for a while either. I had to do this myself. Just me and my spirits.

I created a portal in both hands, tossing them both up into the air above me. One turned white, the other dark purple. Kyuu and Anari both fell from the portals above me. Kyuu landed on my shoulder, Anari floated behind me. "So, what's going on, partner?" Kyuu asked as he looked down at me. "I felt you freak out earlier and I really wanted to help but you didn't summon me."

"I think I just met my mother, Kyuu." I said up to him. I can remember my mother's face, though. And I didn't get to see the face of the person that almost tried to kill me. She had some shadow spell covering it. Didn't mean I wouldn't find out what her face looked like soon enough though. I looked back at Anari, who floated quietly behind me, humming her weird breathing song while she glided there. "Anari, I need you to do something for me." When she looked at me, I sighed. "I need you to stay here and watch the Vedes children. Make sure no one takes them away. Ok?"

"I understand." She replied.

I paused by my room. I could see inside the room; there was still no door. My bed looked so lonely without me lying on it. I wished I could take a nap before I did this. But there was something else in my room that I wanted more. I walked up to my doorway, peeking inside. My staff waited by the doorway for me. I grabbed it and turned to leave. I took one last look at my garden. I could see the fully grown apple trees and grape vines that I had grown over the month. They looked ready to eat for once. Wish I could. Too bad.

I sighed as I stepped away from the garden, making my way over to the edge of the town. I stopped by the massive protection circle that did nothing to help me earlier. I stepped over the line and looked around. It was so silent that you'd think that there wasn't anything to fear out here. Boy did I know better. I could still feel her watching me. Might as well get her attention. "Hey, viper lady! I want to talk to you. Get out here!"

_"You will address me as Master Ildari, you impudent child."_ She hissed as she glided out of the ash right in front of me.

I crossed my arms. "Yeah, not happening. Look, I want to know something." I looked back at Kyuu. "Kyuu… can you see if you can get her hood down?"

_"You wish to see my face?"_ She hissed. She reached up for her hood, grabbing it on the sides. _"I will show you myself."_ She started pulling down, her shadow spell fading with it. When the shadow faded away, bright red eyes flashed open. I could see her withered face, almost white with age. Her hair was grayed but still had some shine of black left in it. But… she looked like an older version of me. And I remember seeing her face before. It was the face of the person who gave birth to me… it _was_ my mother after all. She didn't look as friendly as I remember her looking. She looked aged, dangerous, and dare I say it … pure evil.

"Wow." I said to her as I took a step back. "So… it's true. You _are_ my mom."

She nodded. "I am." She replied, her voice no longer concealed as a viper's hiss. It sounded like my own voice, only older and molded by years of suffering. It was hard to describe, but I could tell that her voice sounded a little strained, saddened by what she had become. Her eyes looked sharp and piercing though.

"What happened to you?" I asked her as I examined her face. But then I wanted to know something else. And it was more important for me. "Why did you leave father and me?" I started screaming to her. I wanted to know why she left us. I never really knew her, and yet here she was the whole time. Living with Master Neloth, studying magic, and helping destroy this whole island.

She smirked. "Aren't you more worried about who your real father was? Or do you really think the farmer with a magicka aura of an infant could possibly spring you into this world?" What? My dad… wasn't my dad? But? If that wasn't true… then who? Master Neloth? _Him_?

She smirked but she didn't answer me. She only looked around. "Where are the Vedes children? I ordered you to bring them out to me!" She pierced down at me. I was suddenly picked off the ground by some invisible force. I grunted as I hovered six feet off the air while my mother started pacing around me. "You have neglected my order and yet… here you are. Are you stupid enough to come out to face me without the children that I ordered? What makes you think I will not crush you right here?"

"How about the fact I'm your daughter." I struggled to reply.

"I have two others." She returned. "One of which is here on the island, however much of a failure she is. The other is just as strong, but not as depressing." She paced around me like a shade. "Now, give me a reason or I'll return you to your father a bleeding lump of bones."

"I came to take their place." I screamed. "I offer you to experiment on me in their place."

She stopped and glared up at me. She reached for her hood, pulling it over her head. The shadow effect took place and I could no longer see who she was. _"You would offer me your body?" _She hissed. Then she mused as she looked me over. _"Your body would be ill suited for my experiments, but I could use a new assistant, an apprentice. Imagine… mother and daughter working together. And both of us have been exposed to the raw effects of the heart stones. Together we could take down Neloth… and enslave this whole island."_

I tried to fight the voice slithering in my head, but I could feel her crawling around inside me. There was this natural wanting for me to be with my mother, and I think she was using that to force me to think she was right. But, I had to anyway. It was the only way to make sure the Vedes children would be safe. I had to do this for Seth and Zera. "Ok…I'll make you a deal." I grunted down at her. It was hard to breathe while I floated in her little levitation grip spell thingy. "You leave the Vedes family alone… and I'll come with you. And you know… do apprentice stuff."

She laughed as she looked at me. The spell started to loosen and she let me slowly fall back down to the ground. When I touched the ground, I crumbled to my knees. I found myself coughing as I tried to catch my breath. _"You will pledge yourself here as my apprentice, daughter. Repeat these words: I pledge myself to Master Ildari. I pledge my body, my heart, and my soul if she demands it."_ So I repeated what she said. It sounded sick when it rolled off my tongue but I said it. When it was over she grabbed me by my jaw and pulled me up on my feet. She turned to leave, saying, _"We should go now."_

"Veselle!" I heard Talvas cry as he ran out of the tower. He looked over at me and my mother. "Veselle!" He cried even louder as he sprinted towards us. Seth and Zera followed behind him.

_"Daughter… make it so that they do not follow us."_ She said as she started to walk away_. "If you do not take care of it… I will. And I am willing to bet that you do not want that."_

I nodded to her and turned to look at Talvas. I was still standing right outside the protection circle, and he was standing on the other side of it. He was breathless and glaring at me like I was an idiot. "Veselle?" He asked as he looked from me over to Ildari. "What are you doing out here?"

I looked from him to Seth and Zera. "I'm doing my job. I'm protecting the Vedes family. Look…" I looked at mother. "I know that Ildari's my mother now. And… if I go with her, she'll leave you all alone. So…I'm going with her." I looked back at him. "So… please don't come after us. Ok?"

His body started glowing with Frost magicka. "Not happening, Vess. I'm not letting you leave with her."

_"Daughter, I am losing patience. Make him shut up or I will kill him."_ She hissed back at me, one of her glowing red eyes glaring at me.

I shrugged as I looked back at Talvas. "Sorry, Talvas. I have to shut you up now."

He looked slightly put off but he nodded, looking back at Seth and Zera. "You two go back to the tower. Veselle and I have to fight now."

Seth looked at me, frowning as he grabbed his sister's hand. "Veselle … you don't have to do this for us."

"Yes, I do." I said back at him. "She'd do things to you two… but she won't do them to me. She wants to teach me because I'm her daughter… so I'm safe. You aren't."

Seth only nodded as he pulled his sister with him. "Thank you, Veselle." He called as he pulled her away.

"No, I don't want you to leave." Zera cried as she was pulled away.

I turned my attention back to Talvas. "So…let's do this. And I won't hold back."

"Neither will I." Talvas replied. He brought up his fist and I was suddenly covered in ice up to my head. "You aren't leaving."

"Yes…" I started thinking of my mother who abandoned me… of what she said about my father not being my real father. "I…" I thought about how Neloth might be my father and how pissed off I would be if that were true. "Am!" I screamed as I let all my emotions turn into the fire that fueled my magicka. Talvas's ice shattered, evaporating into steam as I jumped out of the pillar of ice surrounding me, launching myself up into the air. As I soared down at him, I launched my staff out, willing my fire to race down at him. It roared off my staff as a hurricane of destructive lava.

Talvas threw his hands up, Frost magicka roaring off, surrounding him. He managed to keep my fire from killing him. It was a good thing. I didn't want him to die or anything. I just wanted him to lie on the ground long enough for my mother and me to leave. When the dust and ash cleared from where Talvas was standing, I could see a whole wall of ice surrounding him. He looked as calm and collected as ever. "Veselle, you know all about Frost magicka." He said through the wall. "You know how one learns about Frost. It comes from pain, unbelievable pain and suffering. For one to learn Frost naturally, without books, you must have been hurt so bad that you stop feeling altogether. A cold indifference; a frozen heart. I lost a lot of people I knew. My family was killed by Argonians. I was locked in a dark cellar as my family was torn apart by some Argonian raiders. That's when I unlocked my Frost magicka. It's also when I became afraid of enclosed spaces." He said as the air around us started to cool. Snow started falling from the sky. "And later, I lost my girlfriend to some reavers. She was a local from Raven Rock and we were out on a date. The reavers tried to kill us. She tried to run; I tried to protect her. But…she died anyway. Killed by some witch." He glared at Ildari. "Your mother. I will not let her take another of my girlfriends!" He cried as he launched his arms out at her. Giant icicles started launching from the ground right in front of me. They continued to spread and grow as they raced for my mother.

I stepped forward, launching what I had of fire magicka at his growing ice spikes. My fire barely even phased the cold ice as it raced for my mother. In the end, I was unable to stop it from reaching her. And when it did, my mother simply vanished. She reappeared near the protection circle's edge. _"I may be unable to cross the barrier, but my magicka will."_ She snapped her hand out and Talvas was suddenly hulled off his feet. He grasped at his throat as if she were choking him. _"Silly boy. You should have listened to my daughter when you had the chance. I would say it is time to join Gwenlena, but… well… she'd have to be dead to join you."_

"What?" He struggled to say but that was as far as he got. His face started turning blue as his hand started to lax.

"Mom." I said to her. "That's enough. Put him down." I ran up in front of her spreading my arms out. "Please, don't hurt him further. Just… if you kill him, I will kill myself too. And then you won't have anyone."

She glared down at me but then she released Talvas. He fell to the ground, hitting pretty heavily. _"Very well, daughter."_ She looked from me over to Talvas. _"You are fortunate my daughter loves you so much, or you would feed my ash spawn."_ Before he could reply, she snapped her hand out. Talvas was thrown off the ground. He flew through the air, crashing into the tower before falling to the ground. I looked back at him to see that he was barely stirring. _"Come now, daughter. We must go before I kill another."_ She started strolling off, and I looked back at Talvas one last time before I turned to follow her. I don't know what was going to happen to me now, but at least everyone was ok. They would be just fine now.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so next, the New Assassin's Den and Rogue Shadowscale. Yay... ok, not really. I'd rather work on this now.  
_


	17. New Life

**Cearbhail**:

_Oh wow, I love this chapter. Oh, hey guys. Been a while, right? Anyway, not sure what I should say about the story. so, as usual, I'll just sit back and let you read it.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 4th of Mid Year. Yesterday, I did something so stupid and brave that it almost killed me and Talvas. I gave myself to Ildari in order to save the Vedes children from being taken by her. I had heard that she was my mother and I wanted to know from her. She confirmed that I was her daughter. And she hinted that Brand-Shei wasn't my father. She didn't quite say who it was, but when I mentioned Neloth, a guy I know she's had relations with before, she smirked and changed the subject. I think that means that Neloth is my father. But…what does that mean? Why was I raised by the man who I believed was my father? And does that not make him my father? I mean, he did raise me, not Neloth. That meant that he was as much my father as Neloth isn't. My head hurts just thinking about it._

_But anyway, in order to sneak away to talk to my mother, I had to put a sleep spell in the tea that I gave to Talvas. I knocked him out and then ran as fast as I could to speak to her. Talvas woke up before I could finish my chat with her. And it led to a fight with him. He kicked my butt, but my mother almost killed him without trying. I begged her not to kill him and she knocked him out instead. And that's when it got real quiet. We walked for hours through ashy hilltops, snow-laden valleys, and then to a desolate fort buried in both snow and ash. I think she led me around the entire island to get my sense of direction confused in case I felt like running away. It worked. I have no idea where the shab I am. But the way my mother is looking at me, I think it's time for the grand tour._

_Ves…_

_…_

"What are you writing?" Ildari asked as she snatched my diary of shadows from my hands. I didn't dare make a scene about it. I clasped onto my hand and forced myself to stand there quietly as she started reading my diary in front of me. She didn't just read the last entry; she started at the very first page and read it silently for a few minutes. She smirked a few times before nodding. And I didn't dare make a noise the whole time. I know that Master Neloth hated it when I disturbed him, and Ildari was an insane evil version of him. Or…like me. I'm not sure which one she's like. It'd be a twisted thought that she'd be an evil version of both of us; analytical like Master, and fiery like me. She finally snapped her eyes from my diary, closing it with a snap. She held it out for me, glaring at me to take it. "Hurry up." She insisted as she shoved it into my folded hands.

I fumbled to recover and grabbed my falling diary. "So…?" I started to ask her as I grabbed the falling diary.

She looked back at me, arching an eyebrow. "Is there a question in that word?"

I shrugged. "Um…is there a problem with my diary of shadows?" I held it up to show it to her.

She shook her head. "Of course not. I merely wanted to know what you thought of your current situation. Knowing my daughter is important to me." She said matter-of-factly as she turned to the door to her lair…I mean home. Oh great… this is my new home. An abandoned fort in gods know where. And the only company I would have is a deranged psychotic mother, and her army of ash spawn that tried to kill me last month. I'm the luckiest girl ever.

Ildari pushed the door to the fort open and she looked back at me. "After you, daughter."

The door looked rusted as all hell and I could see ash raining down through the cracks in the ceiling. I sighed as I walked through the doorway. "I do have a name, you know."

"And I shall use it when it suits me." She responded, closing the door behind us. When the door slammed shut a pile of ash rained down on me through the cracks in the ceiling above us. I hurried out of the way when I heard something shuffling underneath me. The ash that had fallen through the cracks was starting to turn into a head with glowing eyes. I stepped even further back as it started pushing shoulders out. The mass of ash just kept pulling out of the ground like he was literally putting himself together. Finally legs started blasting out of the floor and the thing pushed itself up, standing a foot taller than me.

_"Mistress."_ The ash spawn moved its head and I could see the voice bounce around inside my head.

She nodded back to him, her eyes glowing. _"What is it, Vol?" _Her voice started bouncing around inside my head where the other one was. It was making my head hurt.

_"I have prepared the lady's room."_ He looked over at me. _"Is this the young lady?"_

Ildari nodded. _"Indeed, she is. Vol, this is my daughter, Veselle 'Tenvanni'. She will be joining us as my daughter and apprentice."_

_"Shall I instruct Gwen to gather in the living hall?"_ The ash spawn turned to look at Ildari.

Ildari nodded again. _"Yes, see to it that Gwen meets her new training partner. Perhaps it will give her some motivation to become more serious about her studies."_

The ash spawn nodded and started dissolving into the floor. I looked up at my mo…at Ildari. Her eyes had stopped glowing and she was looking down at me. I was still rubbing the back of head where I had heard those two voices bouncing around. It had grown pretty painful listening to them. For a second, Ildari's eyes softened and she managed a weak concerned smile at me before she smirked. "I already know you can hear the language of ash, but I thought the pain of hearing it would have passed by now." She placed her hand on top of my head. She paused and snapped her eyes open. "There is no heart stone inside you?" She almost growled. Then she grabbed my robe's collar. She yanked it so that she could look at it closely. "I see…tiny heart stones imbedded into the robes. That would give you enough energy to hear the voices of the ash…but not the dangerous poisoning that almost killed me. Made me become who I am…" She looked up at me. I don't know why, but I suddenly felt very scared. I don't know what it was, but her crazy eyes had kicked back in and she was giving me a certain look that meant a lot of things to me. Mostly punishment by now.

She started dragging me by the arm and I fought hard not to resist. That's right… I was fighting to not fight. "What's going on?" I asked her.

"We're going to pull out your heart and replace it with a heart stone." She said simply.

"_WHAT?_" I screamed to her, loud enough to shatter any frequency level of glass. That's when I actually started fighting her. I let flames surround my body and I fueled them with as much fear of having her slice open my body and pull out my heart as I could. I directed the flames right at the hand clasping my arm. I put as much heat on that hand as possible.

Ildari didn't even bother fighting the flames. They didn't seem to faze her. She just pulled me along like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Her robes looked just as unfazed as her. They floated in the flames like air was throwing the sleeves around but other than that, her entire demeanor was blank. She finally looked back at me to see me covered in flames. "What is the matter, daughter?" She asked me with a slight concern, like I was pouting or something.

"You're going to carve out my heart and throw a rock in its place! And it's going to _hurt_! That's what the matter." I screamed to her.

She huffed and started pulling me along again. "Honestly, it's just an organ. I don't see what all the fuss is about." I tried to feed more flames to attack her with but it got me nowhere and I felt my energy fruitlessly being drained out of me. She pulled me along as she walked through the abandoned fort. Piles of ash with red glowing eyes watched us as we walked passed. I pushed a sigh out as the last of my flames died down. I was so dizzy that I almost stumbled a bit as Ildari pulled on me harder as we rounded a corner.

Next thing I knew, I was in a larger room with a flat table. The room looked like it had been an infirmary in an older age, and the stone table looked like a classic operating table ancient healers had used to surgically remove arrow tips and other forms of shrapnel. A couple torches overlooked the table and I felt a rock form in the pit of my stomach. No, I don't think Ildari was shoving a heart stone in my stomach, but it sure felt like one had just developed there. Oh gods…I'm going to have a rock for a heart. I could see a bloody knife sitting on the table, as well as a jar of hearts sitting on a nearby shelves. I started pulling my arm out of her grip again, but it was just as locked as before. "Let me go!" I screamed as I fought against her.

I was suddenly lifted off my feet by the same levitation spell that she had used against me last time. She spun me around in the air, slamming me on the table. Her spell continued to hold me down as she glided up to me. The bloody knife launched off the table, flying right to her hand. She brought the knife close to my chest and I felt so scared that I would have cried if I had been able to breathe. She glared at me and she snaked her hand out. I felt a heavy drowsiness overcome me and I fought as hard as I could to stay awake. "Mom, please don't do this! I'm…I'm.."

…

My head was spinning pretty badly. Between the headache thumping in my head and the pain in my chest, I was pretty sure that my mother had ignored me and gone ahead and implanted the heart stone. I guess there was no stopping it after all. I sighed as I opened my eyes. I was in a dimly lit room with a dresser, a mirror, and a bowl of water sitting on the dresser. I looked around, seeing another bed against the other wall. An older girl, I'm guessing like 15 or something, was sitting comfortably on the bed, looking at me with curious eyes. She looked nice, a little smug perhaps, but nice.

When she saw me looking at her, she smiled and stuck out her hand. "Hi, I'm Gwen. You must be Ildari's new apprentice." Another roommate? Jeez…I needed to win the "most new roommates in a year" award or something. Oh well, she seemed nicer than my current roommate. Go figure. A necromancer girl is nicer than an OCD Alteration expert.

I groaned as I sat up. My chest thumped and I reached for it. I didn't feel where the heart stone was… I didn't even feel any pain when I touched my chest. I looked down to see that I was wearing black necromancer robes that looked a lot like my mom's. My hands were trembling but I was guessing that was more for the shock and fear of being stabbed by a knife than any other reason.

"Are you ok?" Gwen asked. "You look pretty young. How old are you? What's your name?"

I finally looked over at her. She looked so kind. Why was she here learning from a crazy old woman? "My name's Veselle Tenvanni. I'm 13." I told her. I tried feeling for any abnormal bumps where my heart should have been, but I felt nothing. I only felt a steady heartbeat. I reached for my neck, feeling for a pulse. And there was one. It matched the heavy thumping behind my eyes. Ok… this was odd. What happened to me?

Gwen started chuckling. "Don't worry. She says she'll take the heart, but she never does. She just implants a heart stone into it. It will sting for a couple days but you'll get used to it. After a while, it'll just morph into the body itself and you'll just…you know…feel it."

"Feel what?" I looked back up at her.

"_It_." She replied. She shrugged. "It's hard to explain but…everything. The Red Mountain, the flowers, the ash, everything." She sat up from her bed and I could see that she was wearing the same black and red robes that I was wearing. "Well, anyway. I was told to bring you to Master Ildari when you woke up. So…come with me." She waved at me to follow her.

I pushed off my bed and my legs quickly told me they weren't ready to stand up. I fell straight to the floor and my head started spinning again. That thumping in my brain only intensified. My hands nearly gave up on me, and I heard Gwen chuckle as she bent down to look at me. "I'm sorry, I'm forbidden from helping you. In fact…I might have to kill you later. Sorry in advance if it comes to that."

"Kill me? Why?" I looked up at her.

She shrugged. "She keeps bringing more apprentices to train. Their heart stones don't work and then… Master Ildari orders me to dispose of them. Failures aren't to be tolerated here." She walked up to the doorway. "And the way you're behaving…I don't think your heart stone will adjust to you. I may have to kill you like the rest." She exited the room, calling back to me as she walked away. "Better get up and hurry. She'll only get angry if we keep her waiting."

I sighed as I started pushing myself up onto my feet. Ok…I thought my first day at Tel Mithryn was bad. I might be killed for something I didn't even want to do? That was just sick. I fought the near blackout I was having and pushed myself back onto my feet. My head spun and my vision turned green for a few seconds. The loud pulsing in my head only blasted my vision with more green light and the room spun some more, but the longer I continued standing the better I felt. The only reason I pushed so hard to get up was that I wanted to talk to Ildari. There was something I needed to know; I wanted to know. And I wouldn't get answers just sitting here like an idiot.

I stumbled out of the room, seeing Gwen standing by the door, smug look on her face. "Knew you'd catch up." She turned around and started trotting off, skipping as she walked down the hallway. "Good, I kinda like you. I'd hate to snap your neck like the other boys and girls I've had to kill the past few months."

"Gwen." I called after her as I leaned against the wall, pretty much using the wall to help me scuttle across the hallway to catch up to her.

"Yes, Vessy?" She called back at me.

_Vessy_? Ok, that's a new one. "You were Talvas's girlfriend, right?" The smile that vanished from her lips told me everything. She dropped the happy act, and it was replaced by pure shock. She looked like a deer caught in a flash spell.

"Yeah…" She said uncertainly. "Why?" She was acting so paranoid now…it was like a complete personality shift. Her stance had changed too. Like she was expecting me to use this information as leverage against her or something.

I shrugged. "No reason. I just heard about you earlier today from him. He said you died…"

She huffed and turned around. "Yeah, that's what he thought." She started walking down the hall again, this time slower, more deliberate, each step like a snake. It was easier for me to keep up with her with my near useless legs and lack of equilibrium. "He was nice, and I did love our three years together. He is an amazing boy, I'll say that. And one day we were out on our anniversary. Ash spawn and reavers popped up all around us and…well, he fought them off. I wasn't a mage at the time so I stayed right behind him, hugging him closely to me. I was a farmer; there wasn't much I could do to fight. And then Master Ildari popped up. While Talvas held off the reavers and ash spawn, she grabbed me with her magicka. Threw me away from him." She shook her head in pain. "I…I just can't. Not right now." She looked back at me and I could see the tears in her eyes.

"Ok…" I said, nodding. It was very obvious that she was in physical pain reliving the past like that. "We don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."

All that pain in her face instantly disappeared, replaced with the upbeat smile that I'd seen since I first saw her. "Thanks, Vessy." She turned around and started skipping as she continued trotting down the hallway. "The dining hall is right up here. Once we get some dinner, I'm sure Master Ildari will let us go to bed early." She turned around, smiling at me. "We can have a sleepover party! We can stay up late, and talk about cute animated corpses, and have a pillow fight… and eat s'mores."

I didn't need to respond to her. She was lost in her own world now, happily plotting our party tonight. Wow… so this was the type of girl Talvas was into? She looked so happy that it almost made me sick. Not because she annoyed me, but because of what she was and where she was. She was the apprentice of the greatest evil necromancer in this area; a necromancer that is causing countless death on the entire island. And she seemed happy to be here. And all the talk of killing people, of how ok she was talking about some boy she killed last month because he didn't cut it as a proper apprentice. Did she even care that she was here? Did she even want to be free?

"Don't you miss your life?" I called back to her. "Don't you miss Talvas?"

She paused, sighing as she dipped her head to the floor. She slowly turned around, looking at me. "Of course I miss him. On several occasions I miss him. Just a few weeks ago, he was walking around and I threw a poisoned dart at him. It missed him by several feet. I was very saddened by it." She turned around. "If you mean…do I still love him… then no. He left me to die. He ran away when Ildari attacked him. I lied there, watching as he ran away. He abandoned me." Black fire started pouring off her, building like my flames did whenever I got emotional. "You want to know why I love it here? Ildari hasn't abandoned me. She took me in…taught me magic, and has proven to be a better mother than my own ever was." She turned back around. "You're new, so I bet you feel like you're with some evil woman hell-bent on destroying Raven Rock. Stay here a couple days and you'll see that I'm right when I say…she's a hellova lot better than your _Master_ Neloth."

I limped behind her and we walked the rest of the way in silence. I seemed to have pissed her off now. She still skipped each step she took, but the skipping seemed heavier and forced. I had to stop and catch my breath a few times before I could catch up to her. The hallway still shifted all around me but I guess it was getting easier for me to walk through. My legs slowly started getting their strength back and I was able to keep up with her as she sped up her skipping. Within a minute I found Gwen finishing her skip over by a door. I sighed my relief as I pushed myself off my wall and over to the other side, nearly smashing my head on it when I reached out to stop. I pulled myself along the wall, happy to see that the doorway opened up to a grand room with a large table. Ildari sat at the head of the table, two other chairs prepared with plates of food and what I thought was wine or something.

Gwen skipped into the room, sitting down at the closer chair. I pushed off the wall and was barely able to stand as I tried to limp across the room over to the opposite chair. It almost felt like I was floating on air, being rocked side-to-side by waves crashing into me. I wondered how long this would last. It might have been blood loss, but I wasn't sure. I finally found myself crashing into one of the chairs, almost doubling over top of it as I did so. I grabbed onto it and used it as a cane as I limped from it over to the next one. I kept the process up until I was at my chair. I was so happy that I practically fell on top of it instead of in it.

"Glad to see you survived, daughter." Ildari stated.

"_Daughter_?" Gwen whined, looking over at me with pleading eyes. "You never call me 'daughter'." She looked over at Ildari, pleading her with her eyes.

Ildari held back a chuckle as she looked over at her. "I call you daughter all the time, Gwen. But…she is my real daughter. Veselle… Tenvanni I think her surname is…" She held back a laugh as she started digging into a bowl of … you know what… I don't know what it was. Slop, I'm going to call it brown slop.

I nodded at her. "Yeah, Tenvanni. That was my _father's_ last name." There, I opened her up to talk about it. Let's hope she bit. I turned to properly sit in my chair and started picking up the spoon. I started digging into the brown slop, hoping that it tasted good. And then I found out that it tasted like death and I started choking on it. I coughed it up, nearly vomiting as I did so.

"Oh yes…" She mused. "That's right. That's the man your father gave you to."

I stopped trying to chew my food and looked up at her. "What does that mean?" I asked her. I had her right where I wanted her. She hinted that my dad wasn't really my dad, but didn't even bother to hint who might be my dad. It only made sense that it was Neloth. She was already with him one and they already had one other daughter.

Ildari placed her spoon down and looked at me. She had a look of amusement playing across her eyes. "You can't play these types of games with me, daughter. I'm too much like you for them to work." She went back to eating. "If you can't eat your food, you must learn to alter its taste with Alteration. This is a test of basic Alteration. The paste in front of you is oatmeal. Oatmeal is very susceptible to Alteration magicka. To make it work, just form a basic magicka ball in your hands and then visualize what you want it to taste like. Then throw the ball at the oatmeal and will it to take that taste. Then…enjoy."

I held back a groan as I turned back to my bowl. I started gathering magicka into my left hand and visualized it tasting like a bowl of honey and oats. I threw the ball into the oatmeal and let it sit for a few seconds before trying another taste. I was welcomed to the sweet taste of honey and I thought I was in heaven for a second. After a few bites, I looked back up at Ildari. "Ok, I'll get right to the point. Who's my dad if Brand-Shei isn't?"

She stopped eating and looked at me. "Isn't that obvious? Neloth is your father." She put down her spoon and turned all her attention at me. "We had you right before things went bad. Your sister was happy to have a little sister to play with. For three years we were a happy family and then… well, you should know. Your father wanted to expand his research into the heart stones. With the ash spawn starting to pop up, he wanted to keep our family safe. Being the last Telvanni household left…he wanted every added safety measure possible. He wanted to experiment on himself; I wouldn't let him. I told him it had to be me and no one else. He wouldn't go for it. So… I did it to myself. Well, started to. When he saw that I was already using one of my spirits to pull out my heart, the bond started to break. So, he intervened, and since the heart was pierced, he finished the operation. And it worked for a couple weeks. Then it got to me… the illusions…the voices. I admit, I still fight the insanity, but I'm winning."

Gwen looked at me. "The insanity gets me too." Her eyes glazed over. "I feel myself slipping away some days…like I won't be the same ever again…" She grabbed her head, laughing whole-heartedly as she glanced around the room. "It's like…it's like the whole world is up here, trying to tell me something, and I just can't hear it. One day I'll wake up and see everything and then… the world will just claim me, claim my mind."

Mother looked away from Gwen and over to me. "And that's why I wanted more test subjects. To end this curse. To successfully integrate a heart stone into a body. To see that we can still have lives and not be claimed by this insanity."

"And…" I looked down at my chest. "I'm implanted too…"

She shook her head. "No…I snapped out of it at the last few seconds. I didn't implant you with a heart stone." She pointed to my neck. "I made you a necklace that connects to your body. It's vaguely attached to you, but it can be removed. That way, if the experiment fails, I won't lose my daughter the same way Gwen and I are lost."

I found myself nodding. Ok, so my mother wasn't completely bat shit crazy after all. She was still elvish. That made me feel better. And I knew for certain that Neloth was my father after all. But…why did he give me away? "So…why did Ne…Dad give me away?"

"I do not know." She looked at me. "I believe it has something to do with the dangers of being in Solstheim. You'll have to ask your father when you see him next."

"Next?" I looked around the table. "You mean I get to see him again?"

She shrugged. "If we live through this experiment." She put her spoon down again, sighing. "If I don't lose my sanity first. I can't guarantee we'll make it through this but…if you don't feel safe here; I want you to take Gwen and leave, find Neloth, and see if he'll take care of you. I wish we could talk more, but… I can feel it already claiming me." I wanted to ask her what she meant but I could see the sparkle in her eyes disappear, replaced by the pure hatred I usually saw in her eyes. She sat up straighter and went back to eating.

"So…" I looked at Gwen. "What are we doing later?"

Evil Ildari looked right at me. "Tonight you will show me that you belong here. I have some bodies I want you to play with. It's time you learn necromancy."

_Necromancy_? What, really? Eww….

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, this is Veselle's life for now on. Well, for a few chapters at least, maybe a whole arc like what I did with her time in Tel Mithryn. And when I started, I was hell bent on having Ildari being the epic half boss of the story, you know because there are still a couple other bosses for her to face. But now, I actually kinda like Ildari. Maybe I can save her? I don't know yet. But I do like the thought that Ildari will come back with Veselle, completely cured of her insanity and in love with Neloth. And then well...the part of thinking of right now will happen regardless, but the interactions between Gwen and Talvas...and Veselle in the middle of it. But it's sure what I'm going to do, but I know that it's going to be a fun arc to be sure.  
_


	18. Skeleton Rise

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so. This chapter is pretty good in my opinion. I would love to spoil it but I guess you'll just have to read instead. But I guess I can say this: this story is becoming so dark and twisted in this part of the story. I'm almost surprised by it. If Bloodstain makes some sort of appearance I would not be wholly surprised because it's getting pretty twisted. But i think it's a good add-on because of who Veselle is dealing with and what's really going on here.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Diary of Shadows,_

_It's still the 4th of Mid Year. Ildari, or mother, is not what I expected. In the one day I've started to know her, she's not only scared the crap out of me, but has also reassured me that she's only doing this so that we can live normal lives. There seems to be these two sides of her: the real her that existed before Neloth's experiment; and the twisted paranoid evil snake version of her that exists because of the experiment. The evil side wanted to cut out my heart and replace it with a heart stone, but my real mother interfered and instead created a necklace for me. It rests right below my throat and while it does sit somewhat underneath my skin it can be removed without any abnormal scarring or consequences. Mom hopes that it will lead to knowledge of how heart stones interact with our bodies. She hopes she can find a way get rid of the side-effects affecting both her and Gwen, her apprentice and Talvas's ex-girlfriend._

_Speaking of Gwen…she also has two sides to her. She walks around like she's always smiling and happy. As if there was nothing wrong with her. And then there are moments where she'll stop moving and she'll just stare off in the distance like something's calling her. She'll start laughing crazily, grabbing her head like it's getting ready to split, and then she'll look over at me like I'm planning to kill her or something. I try to keep my distance and I try to keep on her safe side, but she's also my roommate. And if I wake up one night with a knife being stabbed in my chest…I wouldn't be surprised really._

_At this very second, right before we can go to bed, Mother wants me to learn how to animate dead bodies. I'm not quite sure how I should feel about this. Necromancy may not be illegal in Morrowind and our culture specializes in the animation of dead bodies but still…it's dark magic. This entire course could taint my soul in ways that will take me down the path of Nrillia… Kyuu's previous owner. I need to go. Time to change into my new robes. Black is the new red, I guess._

_Veselle…um…Tenvanni, I think._

_…._

I sighed as I placed my book down and looked around the empty room. The room was pretty small; nothing but a mirror and a bench for sitting. A small curtain that was closed behind me was the only thing separating me from Ildari and Gwen. I sighed as I looked at the folded robes waiting for me on the bench. I already knew what they looked like. Gwen wears the same pair. It's just a gray/black version of what I was already wearing. Black hakama pants, dark gray undershirt tunic with mage sleeves interlaced with glowing red Daedric runes, and then the black sleeveless overtunic with the blood red Daedric runes outlining. And of course the cloth belt that I used to keep the two tunics on me without falling off too easily. Knots can come undone by accident. Not these belts. They can only come off with Alteration magicka. It took me a while to take my old robes off. Not because they were hard to get off, but because these robes meant something to me now. They were a symbol of who I was. I was Veselle Tenvanni, apprentice to Neloth…my father. I was part of a team, a family. And these robes were the only thing that kept me tied to them. And now I was switching them out for the dark mage robes.

Once I finally got the robes to fall off me, I stood there for a second to catch my breath. Flames started steaming off my hands and shoulders and I had to calm myself down before I lit the room on fire. I hated this. I know I did this to protect my friends, and to learn about my mother, my past, but that didn't change just how much this sucked. My life was hanging on a balance now. But I had to do this. For Mom and Dad. I held my breath as I grabbed my undertunic, throwing it on. The long sleeves went down to my hands, and I struggled to keep them up while I tucked the right side of my tunic underneath the left side. I tied both of the sides off so that they held a nice V pattern over my neckline. Once that was done, I picked up my hakama, making sure I had the right side as the front: the side with the longest strings, also the side without the giant cardboard block in it. I tied the strings on the front first, looping the two long strings around my waist once before tying them in a bow behind my lower back.

Once that was done, I was free to set the back of my hakama with the little holder and then tied it off in the front. I tucked the strings away and then went to my overtunic. It pretty much worked like the undertunic. I threw it on and then matched it up with the line I had already formed with my other tunic. I tied it off just like the other set. I felt so robotic while doing this. I loved putting my robes on when they were the ones I wore for morning training in Tel Mithryn. These robes seemed colder, tainted with the expectation of necromancy.

"What's taking so long?" Gwen asked as she poked her head through the curtains. She saw me as I finished making a loop for my overtunic. "Oh. Almost done? Ok." She pulled her head back away from the curtain, leaving me to finish up. "You look cute, by the way." She called from behind the curtain.

I sighed as I looked down at the sash that I used for my belt. I threw it on around my two tunics and sucked in a deep breath as I wrapped the belt around me, pulling as tightly as I could. I made a loop and the belt suddenly snapped together, not even showing a sign that there was a loop at all. To undo it all I had to do was will it to break apart and the loop would loosen and the two ends would separate. These belts were pretty awesome; I liked them. Too bad this belt was jet black, just like my pants and robes. The only gray thing I had was my undertunic. I guess I had to get used to looking like an evil sorceress. That's just my life now.

I took a few minutes to fold up my old robes and place them on the bench where my new robes sat a minute go. I turned around and faced the curtain. I pulled it across, opening myself to the training room beyond this small changing room. When I moved the curtain across, Ildari was waiting for me. She stood maybe and inch away from where I was, looking down at me with glaring eyes.

"Where are your old robes?" She questioned me as she pushed past me into the small room.

"They're right…" I started to say but was cut short as Ildari spotted them. She snapped out her right finger and my robes suddenly exploded into dust. I felt tears growing in my eyes and I was forced to snap them shut and turn around. She destroyed my robes. My robes! And there wasn't anything left of it. I couldn't just call Kyuu and have him fix them this time. I know I shouldn't have said anything to her, but my mouth didn't know better half the time. "Why did you do that?" My voice trembled in my throat. My throat felt like it was ready to close off on my, making my voice seem small and weak.

Ildari turned to face me. "They were a relic of your past. You are with me now. And those robes are my gift for you. Now come. It's time you learn how to reanimate bodies." She grabbed my arm and started pulling me to follow her. I still felt tears running down my face as we walked past Gwen. She smirked when she saw me crying. She skipped as she followed beside me, almost laughing at my face.

"I like your new robes, Vessy. They look so much cuter on you than those old ugly red ones did." She said to me as she skipped beside me. She reached down at her own robes, smiling. "Now we match, just like sisters should." She wrapped an arm around me in a hug, pulling me closer to her. When that semi-moment finished she went back to skipping beside me while Ildari dragged me up to a room with two stone slabs. Bones sat in piles on the ground, as well as a couple dead ash hoppers, a couple dead wolves, and a couple dead reavers.

Ildari continued to drag me into the room. She slid us up to the collection of bones. I could see a pile of skulls, a couple piles of partial and full ribcages with spines, arms, legs, and sometimes tails. "We will start with the basic lesson of bringing life to the skeletons. Are you familiar with how it is done?" Ildari asked as she let go of my arm. She turned to face me, her bright glowing red eyes flashing angrily out at me as she gestured to the collection of bones.

I shook my head as I took a step back. My wrist kind of hurt from where she had clamped down on me so I rubbed it as I tried to find a way to answer her. "No. I umm…I know how Conjuration works, but…I don't understand how to use necromancy."

"Necromancy is Conjuration." Ildari responded. "This entire time you've been calling souls to the world through portals. The portals exist because you bring energy and willpower together to call out your comrades. They use this energy to create their physical bodies. Well, necromancy is a little different. Instead of the portal, we use a body, a host. Instead of making a bond with a creature of free will, we instead dominate lost souls from the Soul Cairn and use them in a conduit. Skeletons mostly. Working with deceased bodies are harder. A soul already existed within that body and it cannot be called back. And since the soul has already moved on, there is nothing we can do but create a temporary soul to take its place. We call these shades. Much like the books of shadows you've read. They're part of necromancy, although Neloth would never tell you that."

I looked down at the book sitting in my pouch. I had no idea I was already doing necromancy by writing that journal I had. "Really? A book of shadows is a necromancy art?"

She nodded. "The very first to write one was Mannimarco." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black book. She flipped it open, reading some of the pages. "It's filled with a lot of knowledge about what he learned. But his soul is not the only one recorded into this book. This book was a copy written by a shadowwraith 200 years ago. They needed his knowledge, his black arts, to save Tamriel from the Aedra invading. I find it hysterical that they used an evil art over and over again to save the world from the righteous and holy." She closed the book, shoving it in her pocket. She glided up to me and grabbed my arm. She pulled me closer to the pile of bones. "You see, daughter. You think it to be evil, but magic is magic. And you're wasting your potential on just one side of it." She slithered closer to me. A skull levitated off the ground, slowly flying up to her hand. She folded her fingers on the skull, chuckling as she looked down at me. "There will be a day when your allies will fail you. Your little bonded friends will either abandon you, or will die in battle. Either way they'll be unable to serve you. And then you'll have to find other ways to survive. And what if there is a dead body sitting next to you? What if there is a pile of bones? A dead dog? An insect? Something that can save your life? Will you neglect to use it even knowing that it will save your life? Your boyfriend's? A family's? Is it really evil to use something to help someone?"

I shook my head. She had a good point. It didn't matter how you got the job done as long as it got done. There was a minute where both Kyuu and Anari failed to help me fight the draugr in Raven Rock. If I had been able to reanimate one of the dead draugr behind us and send him in, maybe I could have made a better influence in that fight. She was right. I should know how to do this. So, I took a deep breath and turned to face her. "Ok, I'm ready. How do I do this?"

She gestured down to the piles of bones. "Select your construct. You may pick whatever parts you think you need."

I released a quick breath as I bent down to inspect the bones. There was an entire pile of just skulls. There were some skulls with some sort of meat or tissue on them. I could see gnats flying around those skulls, eating what remained on them. I tried to ignore those skulls. But I couldn't quite escape the stench. This room smelled like carrion. It was a smell I got used to in Riften. You'd smell things like this coming up from the sewers and the lake once in a while. I was told never to go down below into the Ratway. Bad things lived down there. Things like cannibals and zombies. The fumes from the Ratway smelled just like this.

I had to jerk my head away and hold my breath as I reached down to grab the cleanest skull there was. Once I felt the hard bone in my hand, I pulled the skull out of the pile and placed it next to me. I pretty much did the same for the other remaining piles of bones. I grabbed the cleanest and fullest ribcage with a full spine attached. Then two arms and two legs. One leg nearly fell apart when I grabbed it though. It was disgusting that most of these bodes were held together by whatever remained of the muscular system. Once I had my bones picked, I had to lay them out like a body would have looked like. Once I was done with that, I looked back up at Ildari for more instruction.

"For an inanimate construct like this one, you will need to use a simple necromancy animation spell. This spell is nothing but a combination of Conjuration summoning and Alteration manifestation. The Alteration is your Conjuration magicka transforming into a temporary soul that is connected to you. The reanimated body will take on a personality linked to your own and will think how you think. It will attack what you want it to attack. Sometimes they will speak, sometimes they will not." Ildari explained as she walked up to the body.

I nodded and took a deep breath. I started forming a Conjuration bubble in my hand. I guess I had to figure this out myself, just like everything else. Everything was about intention. That's what it's been since the start of my training, so why would this be any different? So, I just collect a ball of magicka and will it to animate an inanimate thing? Ok. So, I started willing energy to my palm, visualizing it turning into a semi-soul that would bring life to the skeleton in front of me. When I felt the small pop of energy in my palm, I let it fly out of my wrist. The ball of dark black energy flew off my hand, slamming into the ribcage of the skeleton. I sat and waited for something to happen.

There was a small black flash from inside the ribcage. Sitting where the heart should have been was a black orb, the one I had shot at it. Tentacles of black magic started flowing from the orb of black magic. The tentacles wrapped around the spinal cord, holding it together, while flowing down to the hip bone and down to the legs. More tentacles wrapped up around the shoulder and down the arms and hands. The tentacles seemed to be forming a muscular structure. The rest of the tentacles went up the neck, securing the head. I could see the eyes darken as the black magic rested inside the empty skull. The now formed black energy-incased skeleton started to levitate off its back, slowly lifting up onto its feet without properly moving. The energy started to fade a bit, becoming more liquid and see-through. I could still see my reflection in the energy. It was a combination of a see-through liquid and a metallic shine that reflected light. It was beautiful. The skeleton itself looked fierce and angry.

"What…" It started to groan, using my energy to form a liquid voice that sent shivers down my spine. "What…am…I?" It brought up its hand and looked at it. It bent its bony fingers, taking a step back before opening its mouth and letting out a bloodcurdling scream. I had to cover my eyes as my construct screamed. It sounded like I had taken two pieces of silver and grinded them together until they both were forced to break. It looked down at me and I could feel its eyes bearing into me. "You…did…this…to…me?" It called down to me.

"I thought you weren't alive." I said back up to it. The way it moved and looked down at me, I knew I had been dead wrong. I had somehow shoved a living soul into this bony body. I couldn't believe I could do something so morally wrong.

"Relax, daughter." Ildari said. "You just willed it to have a personality of its own. A minor mistake. But that's good enough for tonight. We'll consider this a successful attempt at making a working construct. Well…perhaps a test first." She looked at Gwen. "Gwen. Kill Veselle."

_What_? I looked from my skeleton to Ildari. But that wasn't long before I had to look at Gwen. She only shrugged as she reached her hand out. A blood red portal ripped open and the sickest looking blade I've ever seen materialized in her hand. It looked Daedric in design: blood red and black. Just like everything in this house so far. Gwen smiled at me, a twisted smile forming at the last second. "I'm sorry, Vessy. I warned you that I might have to kill you." She didn't sound remorseful about it though. She seemed very pleased to run up to me and slash with her new sword.

I did what I could to jump out of the way but I suddenly felt my body freeze in its spot. I tried to move, but my body refused. I could only say what it was but I felt the tingle of Ildari's magic on me, like earlier. She was holding me down with her Telekinesis spell. She had to be. And because of it, I could only watch as Gwen slashed down at me. I tried to close my eyes in horror of seeing myself die, but I didn't have to. Right as her sword came down a bony hand reached out and snatched her blade.

"You can't harm my Master." The skeleton said. "She made me…I will protect her." It said as it tossed the blade's edge away from me. The skeleton walked up in front of me and brought up its arms in what I would have used as a fighting stance. As it started to settle into a fighting stance, I realized that it was acting just like how I would have acted if I was fighting. I tried my best to will my instructions to it. _Be light on your feet, watch the tip of the blade._ The skeleton started hopping on its feet, relaxing its arms at it prepared to fight Gwen. Whoa. It was actually listening to me. I looked up at Ildari. She looked more or less indifferent to my fighting skeleton. This had to have been a test. And they were just as deadly as Neloth's. Who would have guessed?

Gwen smiled sickly as she stepped back, bringing her blade back up to her center. She laughed as she charged for the skeleton. I tried to visualize myself standing in the skeleton's place. It didn't work and all it got me was a headache in return. "Trust your construct, daughter." Ildari said from beside me.

As Gwen lunged for the throat, my skeleton stepped off to the side, but closer to me to keep Gwen from coming at me. Skeleton reached out, grabbing Gwen's hands and trapping them in its grasp. It quickly brought its knee up to Gwen's stomach and smashed her a couple times before letting her fall down. Gwen cast a glance at me before letting her own body get surrounded by black flames. She stood up and let the flames roll off her body as a wave over to my skeleton.

Skeleton did the smart thing and took a knee, bringing up its arms to protect itself. The black magicka within it formed a protective shield over the arms and I watched as the black fire washed over the shield. My skeleton held its ground long enough that it didn't break apart. Once the fire ended, my skeleton barely had enough time to stand up before Gwen charged up to it. With a slash, she tore through the left arm. My skeleton screamed in horror as it stepped back. Gwen took another slash, cutting off a leg. The skeleton fell to the ground, still screaming in the same pain I heard from it when I summoned it.

Gwen turned to look at me. Black flames were still steaming off her body. She had the sickest glance of pure hatred for me. Her hair was tousled and she had a cut on her lip, not to mention the beginnings of a black eye on her left side. She growled as she turned to look at me. "You hurt me, Vessy. I will gladly kill you now." She walked over to me, bringing her sword to my throat. She paused to look at Ildari. "Should I kill her?"

Ildari nodded. "She could not beat you. She is of no consequence to me."

Gwen's sick smile returned as she turned to look down at me. "Goodbye, Vessy."

That's when I heard my skeleton roar as it jumped to its feet. It was enough to get Gwen to snap her head around. My skeleton was balancing on one foot, snaking its hand out like it could somehow stop Gwen from ten feet away. "You will not hurt her." It said. "She gave me life; I will give it back in return." The black orb in its chest started to glow brightly. Black fire just like Gwen's started to surround the skeleton's body. The ball of magicka kept growing and growing until it was a swirling mess of pure black energy. It was powerful enough to feel like it was pulling us in, while pushing out enough energy to blow us back. And it really bothered Gwen as she stood there covering her eyes. With one final look to me, the Skeleton's black face formed something of a smile. "I always loved you…" It said as it launched the aura of black energy straight at Gwen.

I watched as Gwen had no time to properly form any defenses against the coming storm of black magicka. She tried to bring her sword up, tried to form a ward, but it didn't matter. In the end, she just screamed in bloody murder as she was thrown off the ground and into the wall on the other side of the room. I heard a sickening _thwack_ as she crashed into the wall, sliding down into a broken pile of bones. As soon as she hit the wall, I was suddenly able to move again. My first instinct was to go help Gwen, but I looked over to my skeleton. It wasn't there anymore. It was just a pile of bones.

"Your skeleton sacrificed itself to save you. That's an impressive character to develop. Since it was based off your morals though, it seems appropriate that it would give its life to save you." Ildari said as she looked from my skeleton back to me. She had that twinkle in her eyes again. She was back to normal. She bent down to pick me up. "You should go to bed before I make you do something else."

I nodded to her and then looked over at Gwen. "What about her?"

"She's dead." Ildari said. That caused my heart to stop. I killed Gwen? But…no. I didn't want that! Ildari saw the look on my face and held up her hand. "She's been dead the whole time." She walked past me and up to her body. "She was killed by reavers. I brought her back." She made an orb and launched it into Gwen's body. Gwen took a sharp breath as her body started fidgeting like she was expecting to be falling. She looked around frantically before looking at me.

Gwen cracked open that sweet smile of hers and laughed. "You got me good, Vessy. Think I can kill you next time?"

"Veselle does not have a heart stone. She can't die like you and I can." Ildari said sweetly to her.

"She can't?" Gwen muttered. "So, if I kill her?..."

"She can't come back." Ildari finished.

"Oh…glad I know that now." She laughed as she stood up. She looked over at me, smiling as she rubbed the back of her blood-splattered head. "Sorry about that. If I had known you would actually stay dead, I wouldn't have actually tried to kill you."

What? What the heck is going on in this house? I looked from her over to Ildari. They both looked at me like they pitied me. "What the heck is going on? How can she still be alive if she's dead?"

Ildari chuckled as she walked up to me. "The heart stone replaces the heart. As long as it gets hit with Restoration magic, it can heal any wound, and restore any soul. It's one of the good things about heart stones. But it also heightens the call of the dead…the paranoia, the sickening words calling to us. Every time we die…we get closer to becoming monsters."

I looked at Gwen to see that sick look in her eyes becoming slightly more twisted. "Yeah…" She said dreamily. "I really don't want to kill you, but the image of your bloody corpse underneath mine is almost too good to pass up." She shook her head, trying to force the image away. "But you are my sister…and I will try my best to _not_ kill you." Then she shrugged. "Unless I'm ordered to by Master Ildari."

I took one final look between the two twisted souls. "Can I go back home now?"

Ildari shook her head. "You go back to Neloth and my other side will unleash full war down on him, on you, on the children you stole from her. You have to stay here…and survive. That's all you need to do. Survive. At least until I can find out if there is a way to counteract these side-effects." Ildari looked down at Gwen. "I saved Gwen from dying. She was attacked by reavers. One of their arrows pierced her heart. She was dying and I saved her life by replacing it with a heart stone just like mine. I was pretty lucid when I did it and I guess my more twisted side keeps her around as a toy or something." She looked back up at me. "And you need to survive, so that we can be free again. If we can find out what happens to the heart stones and how they react to you without being fused…we may find out how to get our lives back."

I nodded. I looked from Gwen over to Ildari. They looked so worried about what would happen to them that I found myself nodding. "Yeah, I'll stay for as long as I need to. So that you can go back to living again."

Ildari smiled and gestured for me to follow her. "Then we should prepare you for bed. Would you like a bath before sleeping or would you prefer to go to bed right now?"

I looked around the filthy room filled with gnats and rotting meat. "Bath please."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Did everyone enjoy that? Gwen dying? And then coming back to life? And yeah, each time she dies, that darkness sets more and more into her. She started off as a smily happy girl like she displays around veselle, and with each death turns a little more and more into that pink-haired girl from Mirai Nikki: Yuno Gasai. Ildari will have to deal with her own trials too, and soon Veselle will have her own dealings with darkness. Things are getting good, but how will they last? Oh, and Veselle is totally getting more new spirits soon. Yup.  
_


	19. Bust you out of here

**Cearbhail**:

_I have the biggest migraine ever. It started maybe three hours ago and is just getting worse. Blurg... oh well. I was able to get this much out of my head. Sorry if it seems short, but this chapter was pretty short to start with. And now, i really need something to stop this pounding in the back of my head. Maybe sleep it off or something. I don't know. Ok, now... something you need to know for the story. Eh, why ruin it?  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Diary of shadows,_

_8th Mid Year. I've been here for a couple days now and I've developed a certain…routine. When I wake up, I check my chest to make sure there isn't a new heart stone implanted in me. The twisted Ildari still taunts me with implanting me with a proper heart stone if I ill-behave. And I have to tiptoe around Gwen when her pupils dilate. And when both of them go crazy at the same time, I have to pretty much run for my life and wait it out. But, you know, other than all that, it's pretty standard. I've convinced the Twisted Ildari to let me summon my friends: Kyuu and Anari. It would help me continue practicing Conjuration and it would also let me have some real company to keep me from getting depressed in this place. To be honest…it's been about six days since I've even talked to Kyuu…I'm a little worried what he'll think when he sees me in dark robes._

_So, the past four days have been me learning how to properly use necromancy on skeletons and dead animals. Since animals have a less-evolved soul, it's easy to replace them. The only problem is that when I do replace them, I encounter the same problem one would when you wake a raving wolf…it attacks you. I've had to rekill every constructed animal over and over again. Twisted Ildari wouldn't let me stop until I had full obedience of the animals. I finally was able to get a wolf to calmly resurrect by writing a formula into my summoning orb. Oh yeah, I've been learning about mental formulas. They're basically how to form your will upon your casting orb. You know…like all the stuff you want you creature to do for you. It's basically like a contract. But anyway, I had to write an actual obedience clause in my formula when I resurrected the animals. It was difficult to mentally prepare, but it worked. And it got to the point where it was second nature. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not._

_There have also been these dreams. Dreams of Red Mountain. Angry souls that called themselves the Deep Ones were reaching out through the burning magma, crying out to me to reach in and take their hands. I could hear their cries in my head, like a hammer slamming down on a nail. When the dream faded, I would have this splitting headache. That and the room would be spinning around me. I would find the area around my semi-implanted heart stone irritated and swollen a little. It would burn like oblivion. I think there may be a connection. I was beginning to wonder if Ildari and Gwen started like this. How long before I go?_

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I hopped out of my bed once I finished my diary entry. I had been awake for a couple hours already. Once you have a nightmare like that, you don't fall back asleep readily. I wanted to summon Kyuu just so that I could hold him close to me, but I didn't because I was still scared to have him see me wearing black and gray robes, sitting in a castle filled with dead bodies and ash spawn walking around like armed guards. But…I don't think I could handle all this on my own. I've been here five days now, and I was going to go crazy if I was left alone like this. I had to do something to keep myself sane.

I started forming the familiar orb of Conjuration in my hand and connected it to Anari. It had been a while since I'd even seen Anari, so visualizing her was hard. She was a Seeker; a spirit from Hermeaus Mora's world. She had a head that looked like a gray octopus with tentacles covering her beaky mouth. She had a round cylinder body covered with a wispy gray cloak. And she had long arms that were slender and ghastly. I visualized her in my head and called her into the orb. As soon as I released the orb onto the ground, it ripped open to a portal. Anari came floating gently through the hole like there was no rush. As soon as the portal collapsed, Anari looked around for a second before setting her beady eyes down on me. "Finally, a place one can read." She whispered softly before summoning a book to her hand. She floated over to a corner of the room and started purring/moaning as she read it.

"Good morning." I said to Anari. When I didn't get a reply, I started growling to myself. I marched up to her, grabbing her book, and pulled it down enough that I could see into Anari's eyes. "I said good morning."

"Good morning, Mistress." Anari replied dryly. "Can I finish this chapter before we begin the normal roundabout of chatting?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but I let go of her book. She went back to reading it and I slugged my way back to my bed, where I fell right back into it. I don't know how long I lied there before I looked up at Anari. "Are you done yet?"

"Have I closed the book?" She announced just as dryly as before. "If you insist on chatting, why not summon your little demon fox?" She glanced at me for a few seconds before looking back at her book.

So, this was her plan then. She wasn't going to put her book down. She knew I was trying to avoid summoning him if I didn't have to. But, she wasn't going to talk to me until I did so. Anari was smart, and she was able to find out my reasons for my actions. I guess both of my summon spirits are kinda like that. Kyuu is able to read my mind, most of the time. He tries to act like he can't, but I can tell sometimes. If I think something, he'll usually comment on whatever it is I'm thinking in a casual way that could be accidental. Or maybe he's just really good at reading me.

I sighed as I started forming a ball of Conjuration in my hand. "Ok, fine." I said to Anari. I launched the ball of magicka into the air above me. The portal ripped open above me and I held my arms out like I was waiting to receive a hug. And to be honest, I was. Whenever I summoned Kyuu, he always jumped into my arms. If I summoned him like this, it might reassure him that I'm still me. That I'm not Nrillia. The portal hovered there for a second before Kyuu hopped out, not even landing in my arms. He fell straight to the floor, landing gracefully but cautiously. He looked just as cute as ever. He was a fox, about the size of a large cat. He had even larger ears that folded down and nine tails that were bushy and just as long as his body. He was covered in snow white fur with glowing blue magicka runes throughout his fur. His bright blue eyes matched his blue tribal markings. And his eyes were glaring right at me.

I waved to Kyuu. "Hi, Kyuu. Want a hug?"

He narrowed his eyes before whispering, "Now!" He changed form, growing into a large dog almost as tall as me. He charged right into me and I barely had time to react. I started to take a step back, bringing my hands up to protect me, but I felt someone with cold hands grip my wrists, pulling them back behind me until I was off-balance. Kyuu jumped up and slammed me with his paws, knocking me down. It was then that I noticed that Anari was lifting me up onto her back. I wanted to scream for help, but Kyuu was already jumping onto my chest, shrinking down into his cute form. He shoved one of his tails into my mouth. "Shut up, Veselle." He whispered to me. He turned to look at Anari. "Get us out of here."

"I studied the layout." Anari announced to Kyuu before floating us out of the room. "I believe the exit is this way."

I looked at Kyuu. He was avoiding looking at me directly, but instead was glancing around the hallway for any intruders. I wanted to ask him what this was all about, but with one of his tails shoved nearly down my throat, I didn't get the chance to ask. So, I thought about thinking it. _Kyuu, what is going on?_

He didn't look down at me at all, not even a glance. Maybe he couldn't read my mind after all. That hurt me a little, and I didn't know why. Maybe it was because I could think that he was always with me or something. I don't know. It would also mean I wouldn't get any privacy from him either. Not like I did when he was here with me anyway. Heck, he even bathed with me. "We have company ahead."

"Of course we do." Kyuu said with certainty. "Ash spawn surround the whole area. We need to at least get her outside the disruption circle. After that, we can send the signal." Signal, what signal? What was going on?

_"Release Mistress Veselle."_ I heard a voice echo in my head. I knew that voice. It was the voice of Vol, my mother's ash spawn. _"If you do not, you will be killed."_

"Any idea what it's saying?" Kyuu looked at Anari.

"I have an understanding of every Daedric language. This is the language of Peryite. I do not understand…is Peryite involved with the ash spawn?" Anari sounded more amused than worried. I wanted to ask her what she meant, but once again, this tail in my mouth was keeping me from speaking. I thought of biting it, I even tried, but it didn't get me anywhere.

Kyuu growled as he looked ahead of me. "Peryite? What's he thinking? Is this some disease he's trying to spread?"

"I have yet to conclude that. But we shouldn't stay to find out. Let's get Veselle out of her first, figure out what's going on later."

_"You will die before she can exit this place."_ Vol replied harshly enough that I could tell he was screaming at them.

"Kyuu… keep Veselle from running." Anari replied as she suddenly let go of my arms. I suddenly fell straight to the floor, hitting pretty hard too. I was about to jump up and run for it, but Kyuu was still sitting on my chest. His ears flicked up, his eyes growing white. A giant white circle sprung up around us. I looked around for a second before looking back at Kyuu, who still had a tail shoved in my mouth.

Kyuu still refused to look down at me. "Just be a good girl and lie there, Veselle. Better yet, keep your mouth shut and follow us and I won't have to keep my tail in your mouth. Ok?"

I found myself nodding and Kyuu slipped his tail out of my mouth. I started coughing for a second before looking up at him. "What's going on?" I whispered to him.

He hopped off my chest and out of the circle. "I have to fight now." I stood up to follow him out of the circle, but as I got close I felt like I had walked right into a wall. I had to rub my nose as I stepped back. I reached up and tapped the circle. It shimmered white for a second before returning to normal. I rolled my eyes as I realized that Kyuu had just trapped me inside a circle.

"Really?" I asked him. "You really think you can keep me here?"

He didn't reply to me, but instead transformed into a giant fox/dog. I watched as he paced up to Vol with Anari by his side. The two of them looked at each other before Kyuu jumped forward, surrounding his body in blue flames. He roared out a fire breath strong enough to come from a dragon's mouth. Vol stuck out his sword, pressing it against the stream of fire. I know enough about ash creatures to know that fire doesn't really work on them. I've seen what Talvas can do with Frost and that could take most ash spawn down in seconds, but not fire. I had to really press the fire down in order to do anything with it against these creatures in the past. Kyuu wouldn't get anywhere with an armed guard. And as I expected, Vol was pushing his way through the wave of fire right up to where Kyuu was. He snatched his hand out just in time for Kyuu to jump back and summon a Warding wall. The wall had appeared right in the middle of Vol's arm. I watched as it returned to being just ash and fell straight to the floor.

Vol took a step back before shouting, _"Intruders! Everyone move to attack. They're abducting Mistress Veselle."_

"Kyuu, he's requesting backup." I said to Kyuu, but he didn't even acknowledge what I said. What was up with him? Why was he ignoring me? Was he mad that I was in this place, that I had learned how to do necromancy? Maybe he thought that I was turning into Nrillia, his previous master who turned into one of the most hated necromages in all of Tamriel.

Instead of turning to look at me, Kyuu jumped forward, slashing with his claws at Vol. Vol hadn't had time to recover from losing his arm, and because of that Kyuu ripped right through him. A heart stone rested inside Kyuu's mouth. Kyuu bit down hard on the heart stone and it shattered with a large crunch. I felt something inside me snap a bit, like I had felt something a part of me explode or something. I fell to my knees, and that drew a reaction from Anari. "Kyuu, that caused her physical pain."

"Did it?" He nearly growled out. "We have to show mercy?"

Anari looked back at me. "What if she dies because of our actions?"

Kyuu growled again. "Fine, we'll only disable the following spawn."

"What spawn?" I heard Gwen call from behind me. I snapped my head around to see her standing there, a sick twisted smile on her face. She looked down at me and then back up at my summoned allies. "That hurt." She said to them. "And if someone hurts me…I kill them." Black fire grew all around her as she started walking up to Kyuu and Anari.

I looked over at Gwen and pleaded with her. "Gwen, don't hurt them. I'll dismiss them once I get the chance."

She looked over at me and smirked. "What? Vessy, you will have to speak up. I can't hear you." What? How was that possible? I was able to hear her just fine, and yet she couldn't hear me?

I watched from behind my little protection circle as Gwen cracked her neck and slowly walk up to Kyuu and Anari. "Who wants to die first?" She asked simply as she warmed up to portals in her hands. She tossed them up into the air, both portals ripping open over top of her. Two Daedric katanas well from the portals, which she snatched mid-air while spinning into a crouching stance.

"How are we going to do this?" Anari asked.

Kyuu growled as his massive form started to change back into his cute form. "I don't know, but I do know I can't stay big for too much longer. Let's just kill her and be done with it."

"Kyuu, run!" I screamed to him. "You too, Anari! Get out of here; I'm fine!" I screamed and banged on the circle, trying to get someone's attention. No one seemed even the slightest bit annoyed with my screams though. And I started trying to think up a way to get out of the circle before anyone died. I wanted to warm up some flames to burn down this circle, but I could feel that it was enchanted to actually fuel the circle's strength with the use of my flames. Clever Kyuu. He knew my weaknesses. And I could barely use Frost yet. Once again, I had the knowledge, but not the practice. I still needed the cold indifference to get it right. The cold indifference that could only be achieved by witnessing extreme emotional harm. You'd think seeing my dad die would have done it…you'd think that I'd be damaged enough to be as cold as the coldest winter in Skyrim. Why wasn't I? What did I still have? Why was Talvas so good at Frost and I so good at fire? What was wrong with me?

"I will take her attacks, you support me from behind." Kyuu said to Anari as he sprinted up to Gwen. Gwen smiled maniacally as she vanished into a blur. Kyuu didn't even have a second before I saw his body shimmer like golden light. There was this distortion around his body, like a personal warding bubble around him. That's when I noticed that he was unharmed. He had managed to create a ward strong enough that he could survive more than one slash. It amazed me just how strong Kyuu had become since I met him two months ago. Me too, I guess. I wasn't as weak as I was before I came to this island.

Kyuu landed on the ground, turning to face Gwen, who had reappeared on the other side of the room. She was right in front of Anari. "Anari, run!" I cried to her. When Gwen slashed with her swords, Anari chuckled in a deep moan as the swords passed right through her. Gwen looked confused before her body was consumed in green lightning waves pulsing from Anari's hands. Gwen was actually pushed from her feet onto the floor where Anari blasted her with pulse after pulse of lightning from her hands.

"This has gone on long enough." I heard my mother say from the other room. I glanced out to the dining room to see her standing on the second floor, looking down at us. She started walking down the staircase, never taking her eyes off me. "Apprentice Veselle, it is time for breakfast. If you don't call off your spirits, I'm afraid I will have to banish them from my premises."

Kyuu looked up at my mother, growling. "We're taking Veselle back home with us. And you won't stop us."

My mother looked slightly amused by the whole situation. She didn't look crazy, so I was guessing she was in control of herself. Hopefully that meant she wouldn't kill any of my friends for this. "I am sorry, but I still need her for my experiment. When she is done, she will be allowed to leave."

"If you keep this up, she'll end up as crazy as you." Anari announced.

My mother nodded. "She very well may, but once I find out how to reverse the affects, she will become as sane as she was before the experiment began." She vanished into a black mist and reappeared in front of Anari. "And I cannot let you report back to Neloth with our location either." She pulled out a bottle, holding it underneath Anari. With a whispered word, Anari was suddenly sucked into the bottle, which was snapped shut. She turned to face Kyuu. "And for you, I have something else in mind." She held out a dog collar and leash.

"I'll die before you put that on me." Kyuu called out, taking his bigger form once again.

"So sad." She said as Kyuu jumped out at her. With a snap of her fingers, Kyuu exploded into blood and fur. It rained across the room for a second before it all stopped. Mother turned to look down at me. The circle that had surrounded me was suddenly falling down. I was finally free. Mom walked up to me and grabbed my wrist. "Ok, so we have breakfast in a few minutes. Then I need to do a test on your heart stone, and then we need to get you some new spirits. Your old ones just betrayed you."

Did they betray me? I wasn't sure. I didn't tell them to get me out of the castle, and in fact I tried to get them against their plan. I wished we could have resolved this differently, but in the end Mother and Gwen were half-crazy and willing to kill anyone they needed to in order to keep me here. I found myself nodding to Mother, saying, "Sounds good. What kind of spirit?"

"An Ash Guardian of course." She said with a hint of amusement in her voice. Huh, I didn't expect that. That was a powerful spirit, I knew that much. Kyuu and I fought one when we first made contracts together. It didn't end well for either of us at the time. if it hadn't been for Master Neloth, I would have died back then. I wonder if having a spirit like that would come in handy, or if I was somehow just making my life worse than it already was.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so Veselle is getting her weekly examination and a new spirit. Hate to say this so soon, but this arc is already coming to a close soon. Her time with Ildari and Gwen is coming up on a close soon. And by the end of the arc...Veselle will unlock her Frost abilities. Which can only be unlocked by deep emotional pain, so bad that it kills you inside. I wonder what will happen? =^^= I don't know yet. I still haven't decided.  
_


	20. I dream of Daddy

**Cearbhail**:

_Sorry I've been away, guys. I've been horribly busy with classes, tests, essays, Kendo, cheese. You know...stuff. But, I'm back, and because someone requested a new chapter for this story, I started with this story first. I'm really happy with how it came out too. If I had waited to write this, I don't think I could have thought this up. Oh...and at the end statement thingy I do...I will share with you a surprise. I think some of you will like it.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Diary of shadows,_

_It's the 8th of Mid Year still. When I woke up this morning, I thought I'd summon Anari and Kyuu to keep me company. You know, because this place scares me. Well, As soon as I summoned my spirits, they tried to abduct me and rescue me from this place. Without my permission! And I had to watch as Anari was trapped in a bottle, and had to watch as Kyuu was blasted into a thousand little pieces. My mother told me that my spirits had betrayed me. And in a way…that was true. I didn't ask them to save me. I can't leave yet. If I do, my friends will suffer. And so will my mom and Gwen. They will suffer too. They need my help, and I can't just leave knowing that they're dying from ash poisoning. I wonder though. Kyuu started hating his old partner because she went from an honest mage to a necromancer. And…that's the training I'm being forced into right now. Is Kyuu mad with me because I'm going down the same path as Nrillia?_

_So, immediately after Kyuu was sent blown up and forced back to Aetherius, Mother told me it was time to check out my heart stone. It's been a week, so there should be some results for her to gather about how my body reacts with the heart stone. I sure hope whatever she's looking for exists inside me. I do want to leave, and I hope that I can bring both Gwen and Mom back to Tel Mithryn with me. I just hope we can be one big happy family._

_Veselle Tenvanni,_

_…_

I followed my Mother as she led me through the maze of her castle. Gwen followed beside me, skipping and humming a high-pitched upbeat tune. I looked over at Gwen to see her looking up at the ceiling, her eyes completely unfocused as she glared up at the cracks in ceiling above us. I would glance up too, but I still had a fear of ash dripping from the cracks and hitting me in the eye. Ash would fall through the cracks periodically, which made me wonder if we were somehow underground. I guess it would make it easier for my Mother to stay hidden from everyone in town. I wonder if they were even looking for me. I've seen Master Neloth use that location spell to find the Vedes family, but…you'd think he would have found me by now.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I crashed into my mother's back when she suddenly came to a stop. I accidently smashed my nose when I crashed into her, and jumped back just in case she lashed out at me. She turned around, still looking completely sane. She nodded to me and gestured me into the old healing room where she had wanted to operate on my chest and install a heart stone when I had first come here. I nodded to her and walked into the room. I walked up to the same stone table, jumping up on it and lying down.

Gwen glided in next. She twirled into a corner, still glaring up at the ceiling. She swayed like she was dancing to herself while she stood there, her eyes glazed over like a Khajiit on skooma. You see a lot of things in Riften, and someone currently plastered looked a lot like Gwen right now. And then finally Mother glided into the room like a serpent. The robes covered her feet perfectly, they even trailed behind her, so it made it hard to see if she was hovering or actually walking. She looking like she was gliding however.

She glided right up to me. "Are you ready, daughter?"

I nodded. "Yeah. So, what exactly are you looking for?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. I want to see if your body can accept the heart stone's energy without the poison leaking in. I did like what your father did with the enchanted robes. You wore those heart stones all around your aura for a month and they hadn't really gotten into your head. Perhaps indirect exposure is what is needed to keep the leaking effect of the heart stones' madness, which is why I didn't implant you with a heart stone in the first place. I placed a heart stone on the surface of your skin with a silver circle to lock it in place. The silver circle acts as an enhancer, making the heart stone three times more potent than just on your robes. I need to see how your body is reacting to it."

She tugged at the collar of my robes, pulling them off enough to where the heart stone underneath my neck was exposed. I couldn't see it myself, it was too far up my chest. I felt her place her hand on the stone though, and she started feeling the silver circle that embraced it. I closed my eyes and focused on the energy around there. I could feel the silver more than I could the heart stone. I wonder if that was a good thing or not. "So?" I started to ask her. I couldn't think of a proper way to actually ask her. "Is there anything wrong with the heart stone?"

"Not at all." She replied. "It seems pretty dormant." She looked at me. "Do you even feel a slight bit…less sane?"

I shook my head. "I'm definitely as sane as I can be in a place like this. I think environmental issues are what would cause me to go crazy."

She chuckled to herself, and that was the first time I had heard her laugh. "I would agree, but we need to hide here for a bit longer." She looked down at me. "With the Redoran looking for you, and Neloth pacing around every inch of this island, we can't leave just yet."

So, Neloth was looking for me then. He was trying to find me. "How come he can't find me?"

She tapped the heart stone on my chest. "The circle and the stone were enchanted to put a barrier around you. It keeps all forms of divination and astral communication away from you."

Astral communication? "Wait…" I held up my hand. "Is that why Kyuu couldn't hear my thoughts?"

She blinked for a second before nodding. "If you communicated with him telepathically in previous settings then the answer would be 'yes.' Am I to guess that you've tried talking to him telepathically when he tried to save you?"

"And after." I replied to her, still thinking about Kyuu. So, he wasn't really mad with me. He couldn't hear my voice because of the blocking spell Mom put me under. And all so that no one would be able to find my location. That sucks. I wondered what was going on inside his head. Did he truly think I was putting myself through this training on purpose? Did he think I was blocking his communication? Would he ever believe me when I said I'm still the same me?

I felt Mom's hand travel over the stone again. "Your stone seems pretty accepting of your body in this fashion." She shook her head. "But I don't know why. There isn't even a circle of irritation outside the silver circle. It would seem that the silver is a blocker of the ash poisoning. I wonder." She grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me off my back. "Veselle, hop off the table." She turned to look at Gwen. "Gwen, come over here."

I hopped off the table as I my Mother had asked. Gwen skipped up to the table. She spun herself onto the stone slab, looking up at Mother as she lied down. "Will this hurt?" She asked.

Mother nodded. "I will knock you out first." She waved her hand over Gwen's eyes and I watched as she passed out.

Right before Gwen went out, she smiled wickedly. "I love pain." She mumbled before passing out.

Mother sighed as she pulled out a knife and started cutting open Gwen's chest. I looked away as she did so. I really didn't need to watch this. After a second or two, I found myself glancing back up to see Mother putting her hands into a large hole she cut open. I tried to look away again, but I heard Mother say, "Veselle, come see this."

I rolled my eyes and groaned but I walked up to the operation table, standing next to Mother. I looked down at Gwen's exposed chest. I could see her ribs. Right behind the ribs was what looked like a lump of gray rotting flesh that had a small glowing red and black stone inside it. I was guessing that was the implanted heart stone; the stone that was keeping Gwen alive. And Mother had a stone just like it inside her. And I almost had one put inside of me. When I looked down at it, I looked up at Mom. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"I want you to witness this process. And I want you to know this for a reason." She tapped me on the head with her bloodied hand. "I put a recording spell on you as soon as I brought you into this castle. If I get this operation correct, and Gwen's madness dissipates…you will be discharged from this tower. The tracking spell will click off as soon as you get fifty feet away from the tower. Neloth will find you, and you will tell him about the recording spell. He will take it from you…see everything that's happened here; and he will come and save me from my fate, as I will have done for Gwen."

I nodded to her and looked back down at Gwen's opened chest. "Ok, so I just have to watch, right?"

"Correct." She said as she started putting her hands back into Gwen's hole. "The operation is to put a silver circle around the heart stone. I can't really do that without killing Gwen, so I will instead put silver circles around her main chambers surrounding the heart. Any blood inside her heart will…"

"Wait, wait." I looked up at her. "This _thing_ is an actual heart?" I was referring to the lump of gray flesh that looked withered and cracked. It didn't look like a beating heart.

She looked down at me. "Her real heart is still in operation, Veselle. The heart stone was implanted inside her heart so that she wouldn't die. Her heart was destroyed when an arrow pierced it. The heart stone I implanted kept the heart pumping regardless of the heart's condition." She gestured to the gray lump. "That's her heart. And as you can see, it's completely transformed because of the ash leaking effect. If I do not slow this process, she will eventually become nothing more than a flesh atronach made up of ash. She will go completely insane and will become nothing more than a tool for the Red Mountain's hive mind."

"The what?" I looked back up at Mom.

She twisted my head to keep looking down at Gwen's chest. "Red Mountain has a working mind. And it wants to spread ash all over the world. The ash spawn are a linked to the mind of the Red Mountain. As am I…and Gwen. We will eventually lose our elvenity and will completely submit ourselves to the mountain's dream of a world owned by ash." She looked at me. "If this works, it will stop the Mountain from talking to us. Just like your enchantments to block out astral communication, I will be able to block out communication with the Red Mountain. And then…our insanity should start to dissipate." She went back to work.

I watched as she started bringing a needle filled with melted silver into her heart. It looked more like a tattoo gun than a needle. She started stabbing the heart, injecting the silver into the actual heart. I heard Mother mumble some spell and then waved her hand around. The silver floating inside the heart started spinning around, forming silver runes on the heart itself with two lines that ran on top of the runes and underneath. Silver rings started forming on the exiting valves of the heart, three in total. "There, it is done." She replied.

She jerked me away as she started closing Gwen's chest. With some heavy duty Restoration magic, the chest practically zipped right up without a single scar forming. When she was finished with the process, she waved her hands over Gwen's eyes. She snapped her eyes open and her chest practically jumped as she took her first gulping breath that sounded more like a drowning person talking his last breath than it did anything else. Gwen sat there, coughing up blood for a few seconds before smacking her lips. "Why do I taste coconut?"

"I injected you with silver. There may be some aftertaste." Mother replied.

Gwen looked up at her. "Why coconut?"

My Mother shrugged at the question and turned to look at me. "So, we have all that recorded. Once we can confirm that the silver is stopping the ash poisoning, I will release you from this castle and you should go look for Neloth. He will do the rest."

I nodded. "Ok. How long will it take to see if there is a change?"

Mother shrugged. "A month, a week. I can't really say." She looked at Gwen. "How are you feeling?"

Gwen looked down at her fingers. "Umm…" She looked around for a few seconds. "Umm…" She closed her eyes in concentration. When she couldn't think up whatever it was she was trying to think, she started grabbing her head in frustration. I watched as her nails started digging into her scalp. I jumped up to grab her hands, but Mother reached out to stop me. "I…I-I…umm…" She started shaking her head, ripping skin through her fingernails as she threw her hands down. "I…" She blanked out, her eyes completely dilated. They sharpened for a second and that's when her face pulled into that twisted smile. "I feel fine." That was all she could say before her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She stumbled and fell back onto the slab, completely out cold.

I felt so scared that Gwen was going to wake up and try to kill me. I mean…she went full crazy. I had never seen her so gone, so twisted. I looked back up at Mother, saying, "So…it's didn't work?"

She looked back down at me. "What do you mean?"

"You saw her. She was tearing her skin out and she had that evil smile." I looked back at Gwen. "She's fully lost it now."

Mother smiled, looking back at Gwen. "It is nice to see the real Gwen, I guess." That froze me in place. Mother looked down at me, shrugging. "Veselle…Gwen has a mental illness. She's manic depressive. She goes into these fits very easily. And the heart stone has only made her condition worse. She's become self-abusive, masochistic, and angry at the world for what the reavers did to her…and how her boyfriend could abandon her in her time of need." Mother shook her head. "The ash poisoning in Gwen's mind was quickened by her already abusive nature and deteriorated mind. The ash poisoning in my mind is slower because I have magical discipline. Gwen is further along than I am when it comes to succumbing to the mental deterioration, but only barely just. I will soon lose it for good. I feel that I am in my final days of control. I am unable to examine my own body, so I know little of how much my body has been poisoned by the ash leaking effect." She shook her head, showing me her left arm. It looked pale and lumpy with blisters and cracks forming in her hand. "My legs have stopped working a while ago, so I started levitating to get around. And soon my left hand will be gone as well. This is how much I have lost to this disease. And yet I still hold onto the majority of my mind. I must stay strong, so that we can live peacefully again."

That threw it back into perspective for me. This was what was happening to my Mother. And to Gwen as well. From what I was able to see, it was only Gwen's heart that looked cracked and broken. But my Mom…her whole body was starting to look like it. She must have fought hard to have lasted this long. "Can you reverse this?"

She nodded. "If I can stop the leaking effect…I can heal my cells one cell at a time until it all clears up. And if I can block the mental deterioration, I can slowly reclaim my own sanity." She looked down at Gwen. "Gwen, however…" She shook her head. "I fear that her trauma will keep her mind locked up forever. She won't let herself forget her past…and because of that, her mind will never rest, never heal. I fear this heart stone has only worsened what was already a bad situation. She may be lost for good."

"So…Gwen will never be the same?" I looked down at her.

"Healing can only be done by the one that wants it. And Gwen wants nothing but more pain. She believes she deserves it for some reason or another." Mother looked at me, frowning. "You must have believed that the nasty Gwen was the Gwen created from the heart stone. In fact…it's backwards. The happy skipping Gwen was the product of the heart stone's insanity. She's stuck in the middle now, forever caught between forced happiness and accepted depression."

"Whoa…" I said. I had thought that the happy Gwen was the real her, but to know that it was her other side that was the real one…that threw me off. And it scared me. She was crazier than I had thought.

Mother turned to look at me. "Veselle. I want you to spend the rest of the day studying a book in my library called 'Ash Summoning.' While you read this book, remember we're working on getting you a new summon spirit, an Ash Guardian. Tomorrow, we will begin your construction. We will see if you can truly use your heart stone. It is essential for me to know if my silver circle is blocking any access to the heart stone's energy." She looked down at Gwen. "However, since Gwen is still alive, I am assuming that you will have no problems learning the element: Ash."

"Ash is an element?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It's an older element, but one that Dunmer such as us depended on back in the old days. Ashlanders depended on this element to survive the harsh realities of Morrowind. The element Ash is best thought up as a combination of Wind and Fire magicka. They act about the same." She nodded to me and turned me away. "You should go study now. I will put Gwen back into her bed."

I started to walk away, but I found myself looking back at Mom. "I have a question."

"Yes, daughter?" She glanced back at me.

"Neloth…he _is_ my father, right?"

She looked back at me. "I've already told you 'yes' maybe six times already. Is it truly hard to believe?"

I nodded. "I don't remember him at all. I try to think back to my life…and I remember being with Brand-Shei when I was two…" And I tried to recall that memory. I was walking, I remember that. Brand-Shei was cooking something for us to eat. And then he picked me up to put me in my chair. He sort of fed me, but let me do some of the work myself. I was so young, but I could remember the scene. Although I couldn't recall what I was thinking or how I felt. It was just a running picture with no words.

She looked at me. "You were at least with Neloth and me until you were three…" She mumbled to herself. She glided up to me, placing her hand on my head. I felt the same image again, and more that followed. "These are Illusion casted spells." She said. "Let me do something here."

I kept seeing the same memory of me with Brand-Shei. It suddenly popped, turning blank white. More of those memories with Brand-Shei started flowing in my head, moving so quickly that I almost couldn't believe how fast they could move. And each time they flew past me, the memory faded away. And I couldn't really recall them either. They just melted away from my mind and disappeared. I had the knowledge that they existed, but no way of recalling them back. And then, there was a popping feeling in my head, like something had just shattered.

My vision of my Mother standing in front of me started to blur and suddenly, my vision gave out. My body felt weak and I fell straight down. I think I passed out, but it didn't feel like it.

…

"Veselle, wake up." I heard Father's voice call from over top of me. When I opened my eyes, I was in my room in the tower of Tel Mithryn. Father looked more or less how he always did: angry. He reached down to pick me up. When he did, he wrapped me up in a hug. It was then that I could see the black charred walls surrounding me. My bed was also burnt to a crisp.

"Father." I heard Brelyna say as she ran into the room. She looked a lot younger, perhaps a preteen. She looked as old as I was. And she had the same haircut I liked to have. "I heard the screaming from my room, what…." She looked around. "What happened in here?"

Father looked over at Brelyna. "Veselle has awakened her abilities."

"Already?" Brelyna asked. "She's only five."

"You started when you were seven, Brelyna." He said. "And your magicka aura was small, barely there. Veselle almost burned down her whole room."

"Wh-how?" She asked as she looked at my room. I looked from her over to my burnt bed. I couldn't believe that I had caused all that to happen. I didn't really know what was going on, and it scared me.

"Ouch." Neloth said as he quickly tossed me from his arms. I fell pretty quickly and landed on my back. It hurt, and it scared me. So, I started crying. I looked up at Daddy to see him brushing fire off his robes. I looked down at my own body to see that I was covered in fire. And that scared me even more. I screamed and the fire grew stronger.

Daddy jumped away, running towards the exit of my room. He rushed as he placed an arm over Brelyna, pushing her back. "Stay back, Brelyna. I do not daresay what will happen." He glared at me. "It would seem that our Veselle is quite adept at Fire magicka…and her temper is only fueling its destruction power."

She looked up at him with wide terrified eyes. "Why is this happening?"

"I don't know." He mumbled. "Something must have set it off.."

And then…I spoke. "I miss Mommy!" I screamed and fire roared off my tiny body, completely enveloping my room and the doorway. Daddy pushed Brelyna away, bringing up a white warding shield to protect himself.

"Dad!" Brelyna cried. "What are we going to do? If she keeps this up, she'll burn down the whole tower."

"I know…I know…" He said with a hint of tension. "I don't want to do this…but Shock can drain magicka from another's body by numbing the meridians. If I hit her with a Shock spell, she'll stop spewing fire…but it would hurt her."

"You have to do something." Brelyna replied.

"Ok then." Daddy said. The last thing I saw was a white orb growing in Daddy's hand. Then a white flash over me and then…the memory faded.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Coming soon to a fan fiction site near you..  
_

_..._

_..._

_[Bloodstain]_

_Fairy tales would have you believe that when a story ends, everyone lives in peace. The princess gets her prince and then the kingdom just rolls over to accept their new happy lives. Stories of war, oppression, enslavement just cease. Our story is just like their story. We fought to take our kingdom back. And we killed Fiirnar the Great. The Dominion pushed out of Solitude; pushed out of Skyrim. Their factories burnt to the ground, their inventions destroyed, their magicka taken away. You know what we did and you know how it ended. But that's the thing... stories don't end. They just begin a new chapter. And now...someone's tried to kill my wife, and pockets of resistance are forming across Skyrim. Discrimination against the elves is strong, dead bodies of Altmer in the streets, families killed and displayed in public masses, even open beatings of elves through Solitude._

_My name is Bloodstain, and I'm a Shoutman. I live to protect those who need protected. And now, I have to do the one thing I never thought I'd have to do. I have to protect the citizens of Solitude against the Nordic invaders. I have to protect the elves that live here, elves that just want to get on with their lives. And I have to do it while keeping what remains of the Aldermeri Dominion away from my pregnant wife. And most importantly of all...I have to do it without the use of magicka, for I am silenced as is the rest of the world._


	21. Attack on Tower

**Cearbhail**:

_I have a surprise for you. We're going back in time...to where Neloth made his decision to get rid of Veselle. Oh...and this will be a two part story so...next chapter will resolve what happens. And now...you know why he did what he did.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

[Neloth, 8 years ago] {I know, right?}

_Book of Shadows, date: 4e198 19 Sun's Height_

_Tonight was something of a fright for us. My daughter, Veselle, had awoken to her abilities of Fire Magicka. It was something to behold, but things are getting out of hand with her. It would seem that her spark of Magicka is due largely to her emotions, hence the development of Fire upon herself. When my abilities first manifested, it was observed that I began with Air manifestation, since I was more of a free spirit than an emotional feeler. But it is with most children that Fire manifests first. Children are all about emotions and lack of control of said emotions, therefore a Fire that burns from within takes form due to our magical abilities to take will and project it out. Even so, I have never seen one as powerful as my own Veselle. Only five, still very young to begin most of her training, and she has begun with enough Fire Magicka to destroy not only her room but half of my tower. We need a new roof, and I will begin working on that immediately._

_Since the situation is very volatile, and because I have another daughter plus normal non-Magicka users living in my tower, I had to knock Veselle out with a blast of Shock. It was enough to paralyze her meridians so that her emotions would not develop into Fire. I've already gone to work and started placing Slave Bracelets on her arms and legs. She will not be shooting any Fire anytime soon. I just have to figure out what to do with her. She is too young, too emotional to fully control her fire. The best I can do is just keeping her calm, keep her contained, and…_

_…_

The loud sound of something exploding and the shaking of my table took my attention immediately off my book of shadows. There was a small silence for a few seconds but then I heard Brelyna screaming from a few rooms away. I flashed from my chair, flying right up to Wall of Staves. I grabbed several staves that I kept for any situation. I had the general Focus Blast Staff, which would fire a very direct and focused outward force to wherever I pointed it. I had my Enhancer staff which would take whatever Spell I launched through it and make it possibly 100 times stronger. I could level this island with it if I wanted. The other three were normal Staffs to have. One staff was designed to summon my ethereal ally: a Twilight Flare named Neptune, an ally given to me by Azura. One Staff held enough Restoration within it to repel even the strongest of Undead while giving healing energy to any I believed to be allies. The Last staff…it was my last ditch escape. It reversed time by 13 seconds…just enough time to reverse any mistake. It only worked once.

I rushed out my bedroom into the main hallway. Everything looked like it always did. Brelyna was looking for a place to hide though. She looked worried. When she saw me, she ran to me for comfort. She crashed into my chest with enough force to throw me off my legs, but with a little effort through my feet I stayed on my feet. "Brelyna, what's going on?" I looked down at her as she started crying into my robes.

"These…things. Outside. They attacked me." She said between pouts. She sounded more scared that anything else. She didn't look wounded either. As I was about to say something to her, I heard more pelts against the tower, more explosions that shook the ground underneath us. Brelyna screamed and covered her head in my chest again.

I growled as I started to push her away. "Go watch Veselle. I will go take care of whoever's stupid enough to attack us." I pushed past Brelyna and to the levitator. As I stepped off the small landing, I floated gently down to the tower entrance. I heard more screaming from outside, so I took a deep breath and allowed my mind to clear before I stepped outside. You cannot be one with Shock without having a clear mind. Fire and Frost may be formed from emotions or lack of them, but Shock is more than an emotional status. It is a frame of mind. It's acceptance of your body: your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual forms all as one. It only flows from your figures when all your bodies are linked as one. Only a master of Magicka can ever master Shock through practice, one who hasn't read a book and forced it inside their being. Those who cheat will always lose in the end. Those who discover for themselves will always know their craft.

Once I felt my mind clear, I pushed the door open. Two of my minor towers were on fire: one was my alchemy lab. My garden where my wife used to plant some of the greatest vegetables in this hostile environment was also burning to a crisp. Craters filled most of the empty spots outside. My cook, tower keeper, and my steward were running like Oblivion to hide somewhere since their buildings were burning down. My own tower had taken some hits, hits strong enough to break my wards and wilt some of the exterior. Hmmp… That would take minutes to fix. Minutes I could use to solve my issue with Veselle.

I didn't have to look far to find who was attacking my tower. They were still attacking it. It was hard to tell where one enemy stopped and where one began. Swarms and swarms of Ash Spawn marched up to us, hammering us from far away. In front of the formation was one person: cloaked from head to toe in a black shawl, a large obscuring hood enchanted with Shadow Magicka to keep her face hidden with an unbreakable shadow. It was a large force, one so big that I was glad I grabbed my staves. Wouldn't have to break a sweat this way. Probably wouldn't either way.

I reached for my Enhancer Staff with my right hand, reaching for my Focus Blast Staff with my left. I pulled them both out, pointing them right at the figure in black leading the attack. I used my Magicka to project my voice as loudly as I could as I called out to him. "I will give you three seconds to leave my tower and never come again. If you refuse to leave, I will kill you. If you ever come again, I will kill you. If you even take one more step forward…I will kill you. If you abide by my rules and leave, never returning, I will spare your life. Do you wish to leave, or do you wish to play?" I've been in these situations before. With much of what happened when the Argonians attacked Morrowind, I learned quickly never to give them a second chance. They didn't deserve one. Second chances gets people killed later on.

The shadow figure paused and his army behind him settled. Ash Spawn, perhaps a few hundred of them. Heavily armored with ash weapons as big as they could form, and with armor as thick as it could come. It really didn't help them when it came to being attacked by my form of Magicka, but I guess it really depends on their morale. After my first and final attack, I guess it wouldn't really matter either way. They'd all be just ash.

_"I want the girl."_ The figure's voice slithered from her throat. I was surprised that I had thought it was a male to begin with, but now that I got a closer look, I could see that she did have a feminine curve to her, even though her shawl hid it very well.

"What girl?" I called out to her. My thoughts flashed to Veselle, to the little whirlwind of Fire that I held in my arms just hours ago. It broke my concentration and I felt my Shock wither away. I fought to bring my mind to a restful, purposeful state of mind so that I could command my Shock. I was struggling to switch from Fire to Shock, a tiny insignificant switch that could easily save my life. Sure, it didn't really matter so much, but this woman was clearly a conjurer at least. She depended on Magicka. If I could use Shock, I could numb her from using it…keep her from attacking my tower, from controlling those Ash Spawn under her control. But…would that help? Would the Spawn break apart or go on a ravaging killing spree? I could hit most of them, but all of them? What if one got away and killed someone in Raven Rock? That would be my fault. More emotions I didn't need. More thinking than I needed. Stay calm, Neloth. Stay calm and force yourself to relax.

_"The one that commands Fire. I could feel her miles away calling to me with her power…I still feel her. Her power is strong enough to serve my purpose. She's mine. I will have her. Her strength will serve Red Mountain. Give her to me and I will depart from here. Refuse and I will kill you and take her."_ The woman called out to me.

As soon as she mentioned Veselle's strength in Magicka I felt my body shake with Fire. I had made the full switch from Shock to Fire in just that statement. She wanted my daughter alright. She wanted to take her away. And I wouldn't have that. So, I fed my power into my staves, willing them to take my power. "I will not give her to you…or anyone else." I launched the power from my staves, and my power took form. My Enhancer Staff took my Fire and launched it in a torrent of Lava at the woman. My Focus Blast Staff launched a wall of pure force out at the advancing army.

As the Ash Spawn charged for me and my towers they met the solid wall of force. The entire first three lines of charging ash crashed into the invisible force, not only being thrown back but returning to ash. The woman was hit by the force too, but when she stuck her hands out like she was diving into a deep lake, she seemed to push her way through the force, only showing her effort of getting hit as her shawl flapped around her like she was in a hurricane. As the torrent of lava fell down upon her, she snaked her hand out. Shock Magicka and Frost both roared from her hand. She managed to form a Shell strong enough to glide past the strings of lava falling down around her. She stuck her fingers out like a crossbow and then I felt a solid impact crash into my shoulder like I had been hit by an arrow. Air Magicka…she was using Air Magicka. But…I would have been able to feel that coming at me. I would have been able to prepare for it.

I felt more impacts all around my body. At the fifth slash against my leg, I was able to snap my head down to see a line of ash fall to the ground. More ash lifted off the ground, only a couple grains of it, but still enough that when they rammed into my body moving so fast that I couldn't see them, the impacts felt like arrows slamming into me. The woman was using the ash to attack me. Right as I figured out her tricks, my Neloth senses were tingling. I jumped out of the way as a wave of ash crashed all around me. Standing in front of me was a whirling mass of rocks and ash that had arms and a head with red glowing eyes. Hmm…that was something you didn't see every day.

The inquisitive side of me wanted to analyze the instrument in front of me. It resembled a Shock Atronach, but instead of Shock Magicka rolling inside of it I could see ash and rocks. So, was this construction a form of Daedra? Or was it something else? When it raised its hands in what I assumed as the formation of an attack, I brought up my Focus Blast Staff. Before it could attack me, I blasted it back with enough force to level a mountain. The creature dissipated immediately and I turned to attack the woman in black. She stood there with her arms crossed. She didn't look like she was worried about fighting me. I was about to attack her when my senses told me to jump back. I jumped off to the side as another wave of ash fell down around me. Looking up, I could see that monster already reformed and attacking me.

I growled as I stuck out my hand and attacked it again. Another blast that actually hit one of my earlier burning towers rammed into the beast. My tower broke down until there was nothing left of it, and the creature gone. I continued to look for it. I wanted to make sure it was gone this time. As I was about to turn away after seconds of watching, I saw the rocks in the ground lift up into the air. Ash started to twirl around as the head reformed. As the head reformed, I could see what appeared to be a heart stone residing where the brain would normally be. Ah…so that was it. The heart stone was acting as its anchor. Remove the stone and the creature would die.

I looked around at the rest of the rising Ash Spawn. I could see blotches of red where heart stones were probably resting inside the creatures. The heart stones were creating them. I now had the answer. I just had to hit them. And there was only one method of hitting so many so quickly, before they could raise any Shields or preventions. Shock. I just had to close my mind off, reach my little bubble where nothing mattered. I took a deep breath as I felt my senses telling me Magicka was forming from the ash construction near my leveled tower. I raised a Shield around me as the air turned hot and heavy with ash spraying around. I felt the tiny pieces of rock, scolding hot, crash into my Shield. I continued to fuel Magicka into the spell as I tried to reach my quiet place. It started to work. I could feel my energy converge to Shock. My temper was being calmed, my inner spirit awakened. Time to break their hearts…hah.

I opened my eyes and turned to face my opponent. I started gathering as much energy from my hand as possible. I visualized the Shock launching from my fingertips, slamming into the heart stone inside the head of the whirling monstrosity of ash and rocks. When I felt the presence of hundreds more inside the chests of the now storming Ash Spawn, I readjusted my Shock to hit as many of them as possible. I couldn't focus any one the witch patiently standing far enough away from my range that she could prepare any kind of defense. I would just skip her once and then go back to her. Right as I had enough power stored away to take my attack, I heard Brelyna scream from inside the tower. It was enough to break my concentration and for my Shock to wither away. Then a wall inside my tower exploded.

It was loud enough that I tore my eyes from the battle up to the tower. My tower was on fire. Seconds later, Brelyna came sprinting through the doorway, her own robes lightly burned and her hair charred on one side. One of her twintails was missing, the remaining hair burnt to her scalp. Ouch…that would take a few days to heal up. When she saw me, Brelyna ran up, screaming, "Dad…the slave braces didn't work! Veselle is awake and crying again."

Ok…so…Veselle caused that explosion. Oh…no…Veselle had caused that explosion!

The immobile woman standing next to her army was now moving, and she was moving like a shade. She flew right from her spot up to the hole in the tower where Veselle was. I hurled whatever force I had in my Focus Blast Staff, and I hit her dead-on. The shade flew off into the sky like a sheet of paper caught in the wind. I had maybe six seconds to end this.

I didn't have enough time to gather my mind into Shock again. I didn't have time to do anything at all. I looked down at Brelyna. I used the scared look in her eyes to form all the furious rage I could fathom. The ground around me started to steam until sprouts of fire burst to life. I hugged Brelyna close to me, saying, "Do not be afraid, Brelyna. I am only preparing for the strongest Fire Spell I know: Fire Storm. Just stay close to me and you will be fine."

"Ok, dad." She replied in her usual soft tone, but I could hear the pulse of fear brewing. And that only made me madder. My fire only grew stronger, building into larger swarms. I focused my hatred on the spinning whirlwind of ash. As soon as I realized the army of Ash Spawn was racing to attack me, I raised on hand towards them. A thick wall of flames, easily ten feet high, roared in front of them. The wall traveled from one shoreline to the next. They couldn't come near us without traveling through it. I saw a few Spawn try to cross the wall only to be turned back into ash. Their heart stones fell from the collection of ash. Immediate impact with my magma flames tore the heart stones apart. Good. That meant none of them could charge through.

I turned all my attention back to the whirlwind of ash. He was already launching an attack at me. Had been for a while now. My Shield had absorbed all of it, and I hadn't felt a thing really. I focused all my Flames on him and then let the Spell do the rest. The flames that had been building for a while now swarmed around the whirlwind of ash, attacking it directly. The flames spun around the monster, forming into a cyclone of magma. I saw the monster tried to blast it with ash to make the cyclone die off, but it was fruitless. The cyclone was in full spin now and the flames were only building and growing stronger. I watched as the ash monster and all the ash within the cyclone started turning to glass. The rocks and ash surrounding the monster died off as pieces of glass fell to the ground. The heart stone worked with ash…not glass, not obsidian. I watched as the monster fell to pieces. I finally let the fire die down when I saw the heart stone expose itself. When it cracked and broke into three pieces, I let the fire die down.

It felt nice to be able to breathe for a second. That was all I could afford when I felt that witch's energy returning. I snapped my head around to go find my other daughter. I could keep her safer if I had her by my side like I did Brelyna. I nodded to Brelyna, reaching down to hold her close to me. "Hold on to me." I said to her as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I used my Air Magicka to push myself off my feet and through the hole in my tower that my other daughter had created.

When I cleared the hole in the tower, I could see Veselle. I could also see the witch that had been attacking us. She held Veselle in her arms, and Veselle was out cold. The witch stood there, watching me through her shadowed mask. I could see her yellow glowing eyes though. How could someone so powerful exist without me knowing it? I've lived on this island for years, and I knew who was strong in Magicka. This woman wasn't here before. When did she get here? Or was it truly that my daughter had called her here with her Magicka aura. Was she really that strong?

_"Such a beautiful little girl."_ She woman's voice slithered out through the mask. _"I will be taking her now."_

I shook my head and pushed Brelyna away. "No, I will not allow that." I looked over to Brelyna for a second. "Brelyna, stand back and raise a Shield as strong as you can make. Remember that bracelet I gave you two years ago?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Activate it." She did. And she vanished. Teleported to the one person I trusted: my brother in the College of Winterhold: Arch-Mage Savos Aren. He would keep her safe for now. I'd get her back whenever I felt it was safe for her to return.

I turned my attention to the witch. _"You were smart to send her away. I would have killed her once I was done here."_

"Why not just take her too?" I asked as I brought my staves up to meet her.

_"That girl is worthless to me. Too weak, too afraid of her own talents."_

I shook my head. "I suspect her strength comes from her compassion, not her magicka. Once she finds someone to put that compassion in…she'll be stronger than me."

_"As will this little one."_ The witch gestured to Veselle's limp body, who hung silently in her arms. _"With the proper training."_

I wanted so badly to throw an attack at the witch, but I couldn't risk it with Veselle in her arms. I might hit Veselle too, and I did not want to do that. So…I had to do something, and I was glad I had prepared for this instance. I pulled out my Last Ditch Effort Staff. While it did have that one enchantment, it also had another one programmed inside it. It only worked when I was inside my tower. It teleported everyone who didn't belong in my house out of my house. I don't know where the witch would be sent, or how long she would be gone for…but it would be for long enough.

"I want to say something to you before you leave." I said to her. "If you ever return, I will kill you. I will prepare for you. I will destroy you. You will not find either of my daughters here, and they will be protected where I put them. They will be hidden. You will not find them. And if by some chance you do find them…there will be counter-measures already applied to fight you. The counter-measures I give to them will destroy all of Tamriel if applied. Are we clear?"

The witch chuckled. "You think you can get rid of me? Here? What could you possibly do to make me give up today?"

"This…" I said simply and tapped my staff on the ground three times. She seemed familiar with my spell because she started to curse her own counter-chant as I screamed, "I claim Sanctuary. I banish thee." Just like that, a portal ripped open around her and she vanished from the tower. The unconscious Veselle fell from sky. I caught her with my Telekinesis, and slowly lowered her to the floor. I sighed a relief as I felt all the Ash Spawn outside return to ash. So…I had won a small victory tonight. Now…I had another battle that needed to be fought. I had to make sure both my daughters were safe. Scratch that…I had a rebellious daughter in Skyrim too, living in Riften last I checked: Karliah. I'll take Veselle to her. She's good at being invisible. She can keep Veselle hidden.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so the first arc is so close to coming to a close. Maybe five chapters left for this first arc. Maybe more just to get some character filler. Ok, maybe ten to fifteen chapters. Yeah, we'll see. Not sure yet. Ok, see you soon.  
_


	22. Goodbye, Veselle

**Cearbhail**:

_This chapter...top of my favorite's list. I worked pretty hard on it, and I think it came out great. Got some great backstory in and it ends Neloth's chapter of back character development. Oh...and we meet Mjoll for the first time. Enjoy the end of the past exposition.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Book of Shadows, date: 4e198 22 Sun's Height_

_It's been a rough two days but I've found myself in Riften. One day out at sea was rough for my little Veselle. I had no idea she got seasick, but then again it's not like we ever had to travel by ship before. She spent the majority of her time staring out at the waves while sipping a sickness healing potion. She loved watching the Lamia as they swam alongside us. Having some contacts with the Lamia, they promised to watch over us while we sailed to Skyrim. I thought about taking Veselle to Morrowind to be protected, but House Telvanni is all but defeated. While I am the one of the remaining Lord, I must not put too much attention on my family. If I put my daughter under protective care, everyone in Morrowind will know, and more enemies will follow to claim my throne using her as leverage._

_So, I have decided to take her to Skyrim. I am certain Savos Aron is more than capable of watching over her, perhaps even training her in proper use of Magicka but I've already sent Brelyna to him for safe watching. I have another daughter here in Skyrim, her name is Karliah. She lives in Riften, and I'm at the gates now. Perhaps she will watch her sister for me, even though our family relations are pulled thin as it is. I must try. The longer I stay with my daughter, the more danger she is in. That witch is looking for me, and I'm doing everything I can to keep myself hidden. But that is impossible for too long. I must be as far as away as possible. At least until I can make sure that blasted witch is dead._

_Lord Neloth Maryon_

_…_

"Hold." A Riften guard said as he held up a hand to me. The young guard looked just out of his teen years. "If you wish to enter Riften, you must pay the visitor's tax."

Hmm…

I studied the guards standing next to the doorway. There were two of them, the gate was closed. The guards looked official enough but their stance told me that they fashioned themselves as the sneaky types. They had strong looking thighs that looked used to be held in a crouched position. The swords on the belts of the guards looked brand new, never used for actual combat. The knives attached to their belts, on the other hand, looked sharpened repetitively. Aside from the mud on the knee plates, I didn't have much more to go on, but I was sure that these guards were some sort of rogue class, much like our own House Hlaalu, which fell from power some time ago.

"What's the tax for?" I asked him.

His stance hardened for a second. "For the glory of entering Riften, hold capital of the Rift. Why else?" His voice took a hardened response, a little defensive…too forced. He was lying.

I prepared a truth spell on my fingers and flicked it at him without him even batting an eye. His partner didn't even see the spell, so she didn't move from her spot. "Is this some sort of shake down?"

The guard stood there for a second before he nodded. "Aye." He said defeated. "The Thieves Guild has us shake down all new people to help search for new members for the Thieves Guild."

"So, you know the Guild pretty well, then?"

He shrugged. "I know one of the thieves: Brynjolf."

"Where can I find him?"

"He's usually in the Bee and Barb."

I nodded to the guard. "Thanks for the tip. May I go inside?" I pushed a little Charm spell on him.

The guard took to the Charm pretty easily. He smiled as he nodded and turned towards the door. His partner looked from him over to me. She scowled as she shook her head. "What did you do to him?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't." She replied but she didn't push the issue further. She looked from me over to my little girl. "You better watch yourself while you're in town. The guards will not protect you from the Guild." Veselle pulled on my leg, whimpering a little.

I smiled as I let my aura brighten. A thick mist started seeping through my shoulders, drifting over to the ground. I thought it created an ominous atmosphere. "I promise you this." I said as clearly to her as possible. "If this…_Guild_ even tries to mess with me, I will make this_ Guild_ and anyone else that interferes with me pay with interest. I have no qualms with this _Guild_, but if they start something, you can be sure that I will make certain they never crawl out of whatever hole they bore themselves into." I put a little more effort into my Magicka aura, which caused lightning to crackle around my body. It seemed to have the desired effect on the woman.

The woman continued to lean against the wall of the town's entrance, but she noticeably looked away from me. "Whatever, do as you please. I don't care if you get rid of the Thieves Guild, nor do I care if they kill outsiders like you." She pushed off her wall to look at me. "But, if you cause any innocent people in this town harm, you can be damn sure that I will come after you myself."

I nodded to her. "I plan to be in and out. I do not wish to linger any longer than I have to." I walked past her, holding onto little Veselle's hand as I pulled her with me into town.

"Where are we going, daddy?" She asked up to me as she jogged alongside me trying to keep up with me.

"Talk to your sister, if she's here." I told her.

"Brelyna?"

"No, Karliah." I replied to her. As soon as we entered the town, I could feel the slight tension of being watched and judged. The people that I've seen already looked more or less afraid or tired. There was this constant air of tension and despair. It was so thick that I could barely feel any significant energy signatures here. It was like this town was alive with energy that fed on the fears of others. It was a thick mask…right where someone would want to go if they were running away from a crazy witch looking for an emotional person.

"Where are you going, Mjoll?" A door right in front of me slammed open, and out walking was a teenage girl clutching her side as if she were in a lot of pain. She was wearing nothing but bandages and a loose shirt, her hair short and matted. She looked like a normal adventurer.

"Where do you think?" She didn't look back at him as she walked towards me. "I'm going back for my sword."

"Mjoll, you aren't in good enough condition to go out there!" A teenage boy rushed out the door, running in front of Mjoll. He was dressed like a typical royal, well-dressed with a perfect haircut. As soon as he stepped out in front of Mjoll, he spread his arms out, halting Mjoll from going any further. "I don't let you leave just yet!" He said firmly.

Mjoll stopped and rounded her shoulders. "You think a puny non-fighter like you can possibly stop _me_?"

The boy stood his ground. "I…well…I don't know." He said as uncertainly as possible. "But…I will try if it means you continue to rest until you've healed."

She groaned. I stood there next to them as they stared each other down. Veselle pulled on my arm but didn't say anything. I looked at the girl, Mjoll. She looked tough, built. I didn't really know much about her, but I could tell she had a powerful aura of pure intention. She would do whatever it was she wanted to do. And she was strong, a proud knight. If anyone could protect my daughter, it would be someone like Mjoll.

The boy, who I still didn't know a name for, seemed to be just as idealistic as anyone I've ever met. He seemed like a good sort. Perhaps this city wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been.

Mjoll stepped up to the boy, gripping her side in pain. "You have three seconds to step aside, boy."

"You're no older than I am." He replied.

"I'm 19, you little guttersnipe. Three"

"Yeah, well I'm 17, so we're not so different."

"You haven't seen the world like I have. Two."

"Just rest for a couple more days. After that, you can do whatever you like."

She scoffed. "One…" She started to snap her arm out.

"STOP!" Veselle cried. I was nearly thrown away from her as the air around us erupted into flames. I managed to step away as my tiny girl engulfed herself in flames. She looked mad, and she was directing that anger to the two confused teens. "You're supposed to be friends. Now, kiss and make up."

Mjoll looked down at my little girl. First, she looked mad, but then she cracked out into a smile. "What? Really?"

Veselle nodded. "He is only looking out for you. You shouldn't hurt him for that. You should be friends."

Mjoll looked from Veselle over to the boy still standing his ground by the gate. She held her glare for a second before her leg gave out under her. She cried out in slight pain as she fell to her knees, grabbing her side. I could see a slight blotch of red starting to form under her bandages. Shocked, the boy ran up to her, rushing to help her onto the floor. "See, Mjoll…you're just not ready to leave yet. You'd be too far away to crawl back by now…and I wouldn't know where you were."

"And then a wolf would get me…" She surmised as she lay there in the street. Some locals came around to watch her as she lay there. Mjoll looked around for a second before sighing. "Ok, fine. I'll rest a little longer."

"Well, you opened your stitches. Now you'll have to rest for even longer…" The boy started to say.

Mjoll held up her hand to silence him. "Don't push your luck, boy. And don't try any funny stuff on me, or I'll make you regret it."

I started to pull Veselle to follow me. "Come, Veselle. We should go see this Brynjolf."

"Brynjolf?" She looked up at me. "I thought we were looking for Karliah?"

"Karliah?" Mjoll asked as she looked up at me. She tried to push herself up off the ground, but she went back down with a painful groan.

I turned to face her. "You know Karliah?"

Mjoll nodded. "Yeah…but she isn't here in Riften. She's away, but I can get word to her if you need to speak to her."

"I do. Tell her that her father is here to negotiate with her." I said to the downed Mjoll.

Mjoll scoffed. "Oh…it's you." She looked at me and then to Veselle. "Should have figured. You seem like the Telvanni type." She started to chuckle, but it was quickly drowned out by groans of pain and coughing. "But…don't think I'm being disrespectful, just surprised. The things she told me about you, I figured you didn't give a crap about her."

"Times change." I said to her. I walked over to her, bending down to look her in the eye. "Would you like to walk by the end of the day?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Then I will bargain with you. I will heal your wounds…and you will listen to my story."

Mjoll laid there, her expression empty. "Yeah, ok. I'm cool with that."

I stuck out my hand towards her wound. I closed my eyes as I felt the pain in her side, the damage that didn't need to be. Illusion Masters and Alteration Masters believe that Restoration and Destruction are nothing but Alteration and Illusion put together. I would love to see an Alteration Master bring a dead flower back to life. I'd love to see an Alteration Master patch blood cells. Sure, an Alteration Master may be able to transform water into blood cells, and an Illusion Master may be able to numb the mind from experiencing pain and replace it with ecstasy and bliss. But what I did…I made pain and wounds disappear. Restoration is a great ally for the Telvanni Master, but so are Illusion and Alteration. I used all three to heal wounds. I feel it's best to make the host feel better while the body healed. Alteration helped the healing process while the Restoration fought the infection and rebuild body parts.

Mjoll continued to lay there while I healed her. "So, are you going to speak, or are you just going to sit there and heal me?"

"What I have to say is not for common ears to listen."

"Ah." She exclaimed, smiling. "I think I see where this might be going."

"I guarantee you do not." Another few minutes passed while I patched her wound. When it was finally finished, I reached down to take her hand. "Now, where can we talk privately?"

She looked over at the boy. "Aerin's house." She pulled me to follow her. Aerin, the boy, followed behind us. Veselle continued to hold my other hand as we traveled into Aerin's house.

When we were inside, Aerin closed the door behind us. He locked it behind him. He awkwardly cleared his throat and then presented himself to me. "Well…Mr…"

"I am Lord Neloth." I announced to him.

He nodded. "Lord Neloth…would you like some tea?"

"Do you have canis root tea?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I…I think I do." He struggled to dismiss himself as he walked away from the door into the kitchen.

Mjoll watched him leave as she sat herself down in a chair. She shook her head, saying, "He's a fool, but a nice fool."

I looked from the disappearing boy over to Mjoll, who now had my full attention. "He seems like a charming lad. How long have you known him?"

"I didn't…not until I woke up ten minutes ago in his bed…wearing this bandage." She scoffed. "When I screamed, he ran in telling me his name and how he found me bleeding outside some gateway leading to some Dwemer ruin…" She shook her head. "how he dragged me all the way to here…with whatever he could find to keep my wound clean and sealed. When I tried to get up, he tried to push me down…afraid I'd hurt myself or something stupid…"

"And yet…you ended up in the street bleeding out until I healed you."

She smirked at me, glaring at me. "What do you want from me?"

"Just a story…and a helping hand."

"I do love to help people." She said blandly.

"You see…my daughter here, Veselle, as you may have noticed, has grown into her Magicka aura. She is able to summon fire Magicka now." I looked from Mjoll over to Veselle. Veselle just stood next to me, holding my hand. She looked up at me and then over to Mjoll.

"Nice story. Are we done here?" Mjoll asked as if she already knew the answer.

"The night my daughter awoke to her abilities, my home was attacked by a witch. A witch that wanted to harness my daughter's powers to use for her own gain. I was barely able to send the witch away without losing my daughter to her. The witch claimed that she would come back to get my daughter, and would not end her quest until she did so. My other daughter, Karliah, is good at not being found. She is very good at evading detection from Telvanni Lords…as I already am quite experienced in."

Mjoll nodded. "So…you're hoping your daughter can hide you and your daughter."

I shook my head. "I cannot remain with my daughter. My aura will only attract the witch back to me…and then to my daughter. No, I must be as distant as possible until I can find this witch and kill her. So…I wanted to ask Karliah to watch Veselle for me."

"What?" Veselle asked as she tugged on my arm. "Daddy? You're going to leave me?"

I sighed as I waved a hand over her head, forcing a Sleep spell over her. Veselle's eyes drooped and she slowly fell to the floor, her silent tears already silencing themselves before they started to fall. I didn't need to hear her cry in front of me. I didn't need to see her explode with Magicka either. I looked back up at Mjoll. "Every time she gets emotional, she causes an outburst. Now, I can do something to keep her contained, but it will require a regular dose of Magicka Silencing potions. Now…my Veselle loves honey, so using a some chicken's eggs and some Frost Miriam will help reduce her Magicka output."

Mjoll nodded. "Um…why are you tell me all this?"

I shrugged. "I thought it was obvious. I want you to watch her."

She burst out laughing. "Me? Watch her? And how exactly are you expecting that little bundle of fire to listen to me?"

"I'll wipe her memories away so that she believes she's your daughter, or sister."

Mjoll nodded. "I guess that's one way. But…I'm not that old, and I'm not a Dunmer. I'm a Nord."

"You are correct. I was hoping you'd watch her until Karliah would come back."

Mjoll shrugged. "I'd love to, but Karliah might never come back. Now, I can tell her what you told me, and she may try to return, but she's been run out of this town by the Thieves Guild leader, Mercer Frey."

I bent down to pick up Veselle. I carried her over to a couch to set her down. "There must be some way I can convince you to do this for me."

Aerin nodded as he walked into the room, carrying a teapot. "There is a Dunmer living here in Riften that is always talking about settling down and having a family. He's a good friend of mine…always wanted to be a father."

I looked over to Aerin. "Can you introduce me to him?"

He set the teapot down. "Sure, I can do that. He owns a little stall in the marketplace. Here, follow me." He led me out of the room, where Mjoll continued to sit on her little couch. He opened the door for me, ushering me out of the house. He closed the door behind him, nodding to me as he led me through the streets. "I can understand your reason for bringing her here, but…you do know that Riften is the hub of all sin in Skyrim, right?"

I nodded. "I noticed it when I came to the gates, but that is a good thing in this regard."

"Why?" He looked back at me.

"The amount of energy this place has will mask my daughter's energy signature from the witch pursuing her. She will be hidden." I said as I looked around. The city was literally sitting on top of a lake, which was impressive. It would also be useful to help deter some aspiring necromancers from attacking the town.

Aerin nodded like he understood as he led me to the busiest part of the town. People dressed as poor as dirt sat against the cobblestone as they raised their hands to anyone willing to drop a few coins in their general direction. As we walked past, I let a small pouch of 100 drakes fall from my pocket. The poor rushed over it like it was a miracle but they didn't look up at me.

Aerin came to a stop by a market stall where a notable Dunmer looked at me with curious eyes. He looked like a decent fellow, but he looked familiar. "Welcome to Riften, stranger. May I interest you in some traditional Dunmer goods?"

I paused as I looked at him. He looked just like a man I knew back in Morrowind. I just had to know. "Excuse me…do you know a man by the name Lynmdrenn Tenvanni?"

He paused. "That would be the name of my father." He said. "Why?"

I smiled. "You are a member of House Telvanni."

"I am indeed." He reported. He got a better look at me. "Are you?" He paused as he stood up. "A Telvanni Lord…" He stood there breathless.

I nodded. I knew exactly what to do with this. "I have a mission for you, Lord Tenvanni. Follow me."

He almost laughed but thought better of it. "Me? A Lord?"

"I proclaim, here and now…" I screamed loudly so that everyone could hear me. "that …" I gestured to the Dunmer.

"Um…Brand-Shei Tenvanni." He said proudly.

"That Brand-Shei Tenvanni is to become a Lord of House Telvanni." I nodded my head to him. "Congratulations are to be in order." There were a few rounds of applause from the other Dunmer nearby and some Nords joined in, even though I bet they didn't really understand what was really going on. I directed my gaze to him. "Now, Lord Tenvanni, I have a mission for you. Follow me."

I rushed back to Aerin's house while looking as noble as possible. I pushed the door open to see Mjoll throwing a backpack over her shoulders. She saw me looking at her and she scoffed. "I was hoping to leave before you came back." I walked into the room, letting Aerin and Brand-Shei come in behind me. Mjoll took a look at Brand-Shei, sighing. "Looks like you found someone after all." She looked at me. "Am I free to go?"

I shook my head. "I still have a request for you."

She nodded and threw the backpack off her shoulder. She slumped back down into her couch. "Well, you did heal me, so I guess I should at least listen to what you have to offer."

Brand-Shei looked over at me. "So…Lord? What do you require of me?"

I gestured to my daughter, who slept on the couch. "I need you to watch my daughter for me."

He looked confused. "That's my mission? Babysitting?"

"Guarding." I said to him.

"Guarding? From who?" He looked around the room.

I looked from him over to Mjoll. "This is why I want you to remain here. This witch that's looking for my daughter…there may be others like her looking for power. You have a strong noble aura of a true knight…one capable of protecting my Veselle from any necromages that would use her power for evil. You haven't seen her true strength, but if her power is ever harnessed, it could lead to the destruction of a town, of innocent lives…including hers."

Mjoll looked from me over to Veselle. She finally smiled and nodded. "I would consider it an honor." She stood up. "Do I have to interact with her?"

I shrugged. "If you feel it necessary. She will need a friend, a mentor."

Mjoll nodded. "I understand."

Brand-Shei looked from me over to Mjoll, then back to me. "What's this got to do with me?"

I looked over to him. I walked up to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "You are a Telvanni Lord now. While you may not know much about your heritage, I will do what I can to help you learn about it. My daughter has awakened to her abilities as a Telvanni mage. She is so powerful that she has drawn an evil witch to my tower. That witch was powerful enough to make me work to fight her. And she wanted my daughter. She wanted to steal her from me, which is why I am here. My daughter needs to be hidden, protected. I have another daughter here in Skyrim; her name is Karliah. She should be back soon to take her, but until then my Veselle needs someone to watch over her. Which is why I need you."

He started to nod. "I think I understand where this is going."

"I am going to wipe her mind of ever knowing me, and replace her memories of living with you…as a Tenvanni of House Telvanni. I will be able to keep tabs on her through our weekly communications, while teaching you more about House Telvanni and perhaps teaching you in the ways of Magicka. I can prepare you to help her learn Magicka."

He stopped me right there. "Lord, perhaps it would be best to keep her training to a minimum…mine as well. If a witch is after her…wouldn't teaching her be dangerous? Like throwing hay on an already lit beacon, and then adding a second beacon next to it?" He gestured to himself.

I nodded. "You are correct. Are you ok with postponing your training until your mission is complete?"

He looked from me over to my little daughter. She tossed and turned on the couch, mumbling about Brelyna taking her favorite teddy bear in her sleep. Brand-Shei smiled and then looked back up at me. "I accept my mission, Lord…?"

"You may call me Neloth. We're both Lords of House Telvanni after all." I patted him on the shoulder before turning to look at my daughter. "Now… when she wakes up, she will believe that you are her father…always will have been."

He nodded. "Perhaps you should add those memories to me as well."

I shrugged. "Lie down next to her. I will make this as fast as possible. Let me tell you this now. When you wake, you will remember this moment, you will remember your mission. And you will know everything you need to know about my daughter…and how to keep her hidden. Everything from potions to charms. Understood?"

He nodded and lied on the couch next to Veselle. He closed his eyes. "I understand."

I stood there for a second while I tried to calm my own emotions. I very well might be losing my daughter forever. I would wipe my own memory of the events, but I had to remember for all of us. She would know one day…whenever it was safe to know. I took one final look at her as I placed my hand on her forehead; the other hand resting on Brand-Shei's. I started with her birth, keeping her mother's face since she'll never know her anyway. I changed my face and voice to match Brand-Shei's and changed the tower to Riften, just generic feelings and images to keep her able to see what her life was like before she wakes up. It took me a while to face her memories, and a while longer to manipulate them into something more tangible. The closer I got to the surface, the more intricate the memories had to become. I had to add more colors, more sounds, more vivid detail. Finally, after two hours of erasing my daughter's memories of me, I was done.

I stood up and looked over at Mjoll. "Tell Karliah my daughter is here and needs her to watch over her."

Mjoll nodded. "And until then, she will have me. And even afterwards. I will take good care of her."

"Me too." Aerin said, wrapping his arm around Mjoll. "We'll both watch out for her."

Mjoll slapped Aerin's hand off her shoulder. "Don't touch me."

I bowed to them. "You have done me a great honor by doing this. I will not forget it."

Brand-Shei started getting up, rubbing his eyes. "The honor is all mine, Lord Neloth."

"Lord Neloth?" Veselle said as she started waking up. She sat up from the couch to look over at me with curious eyes. She tilted her head to the side before looking over at Brand-Shei. "Daddy? Who's Lord Neloth?"

Brand-Shei looked down at her, smiling warmly to her. "He's my best friend, and a great person."

She looked over at me and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Lord Neloth."

I nodded but rushed for the doorway. "Nice to meet you too, young Veselle. We shall meet again…someday."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I promised myself I wouldn't cry!  
_


	23. Air Magicka

**Cearbhail**:

_Wow, this chapter gets pretty deep. Hey, guys. The semester is almost over, and my brain has never been stronger. Anyway, hope you guys like what I do with the chapter. It's time to take out your quills and paper because I'm throwing in some knowledge today.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Diary of Shadows,_

_Today is the 11th of Mid Year. The dream I had of dad still haunt me. It's been three days since I woke up with my memories of who I really was, but that does not make it any easier for me to suddenly come to terms that my father is really Neloth. Sure, in the dream I clearly saw Mother trying to kill Father in some duel to claim me. But did that really justify his reasons for sending me away? To have Mjoll and Brand-Shei watch over me? I don't really know, so I try to put it out my mind. To be honest, I loved living in Riften, made some of the best friends of my life…and in the life or death situation that nearly killed me, I seemingly unlocked my magicka that was being held dormant inside me since I was five._

_Training has become something else entirely now. While training with ash, Mother is also seeking to improve my finesse. She claims that I won't survive on brute magicka strength as I have for so long. She compares me to a mammoth in a collectable glass shop. With every step I take, I shatter all the dishes around me. I need to be subtle with my magicka, if not just to survive a war. I'm ok with this. I can't wait to become more finesse with my magicka usage._

_And since I cannot use Ash yet, I cannot make a bond with any ash constructions. Only once I learn the Ash element will I be able to move onto my newest summon._

_Veselle Tenvanni. Yes, I'm keeping the name in honor of my true father: Brand-Shei Tenvanni._

…

"Precision is key." Mother called from the second story. She paced back and forth while looking down at me. "You have a lot of magicka, but squander it aimlessly. How much of it do you waste on a single opponent?" I shrugged at her question. It's not like I ever asked myself the question. I just did what I needed to do and had Kyuu back me up. "The only way for you to improve further is to start honing your magicka. You must focus. And to do this…we will use an older method of control."

She hopped from the second floor down to face me. "You understand that if you agree to this that you will be begging me for it to end, do you not?"

I shrugged. "I think I can handle it."

Her eyes turned even redder as she shook her head. "No, daughter…I do not believe you can."

With a snap of her fingers, the gravity around me became so powerful that I was crumbling to my knees. She started snapping her fingers, to which floating candles started to approach. "Light the candles." She said it so simply that I couldn't believe this was for real.

I tried to lift up my arms, but they felt so heavy that it taxed me just to do it. When I managed to lift my arms up, I called my Fire to me. Fire started gathering in my fist, but just as fast as the fire gathered it flowed down to the floor like it was a liquid. When I tried to launch my Flames spell, the fire sputtered maybe an inch before falling to the floor as a smoke. This gravity continued to pull down on me, and it was making my head spin. My magicka felt like it was pushing all the way down to my feet. This was not good. This was like nothing I've ever been put through.

I looked up at Mother. She stood there, using only a slight bit of magicka to hold me down. So…this was a Telvanni Lord. I had only seen moments of Father's true abilities as a Lord, but never so much. I still felt like I was only witnessing a small portion of Mother's true strength, but if she could hold me down like this without any effort, there was no way I could ever stand up to her.

"Daughter, you're just throwing your magicka around. There is no will behind it, no direction." She said gently to me. "Your will must be sharp, your direction clear. You need to visualize your fire as sharp as a blade, as solid as a sword. Do this, and you might hit a target. To stand to the pressure of the world, you must be as strong as stone, as immoveable as Nirn herself."

So, that's what she was trying to teach me. So, pretty much martial arts then? I could do that. I started spreading my feet shoulder-width apart. Once I had a good standing I managed to push myself up into a horse stance. I took a deep breath as I raised my hands into a ready stance. The gravity pushing against me was lessening on the impact now that I had a good stance.

I closed my eyes and let the world around me come to a still. When Mjoll taught me how to fight, she told me that I might have to punch through someone's armor one day and that just throwing an elbow or a fist randomly would get me nowhere. I had to focus on where my punch would land, how far I would have to throw that punch through my opponent to get the desired effect, and to realize that my fists were harder than any steel. With enough willpower, I could punch through anything. She demonstrated by blowing up a wall with her pinky finger. I could never to that though. But I could punch through a beam of wood. That was something to me.

I looked at the floating candles. All I had to do was light them and this test would be over. I took aim at the first one, visualizing how I would have to throw out my fist. Fire would have to roll off my fist over to the target, and the fire would have to hit the wick to set it ablaze. A beam of fire would be preferable than just a wave of it. A wave of fire would just disperse and fall to the ground. A beam would be stronger, more able to resist the pull. So, I launched my fist out with a kiai that I screamed. The Fire inside me responded and flew up to my fist, blasting out of it when I struck my punch.

The fire exploded as soon as it left my palm, which threw me back a bit. The Fire exploded everywhere and then sank to the floor as the previous fires did before. I guess I hadn't focused enough then. I closed my eyes and brought my fist back in. I took a few deep breaths as I centered myself. Neloth taught me that my Fire was my will. I just really wanted to have it hit what I wanted it to hit. He taught me how to keep it from burning my clothes because I willed it not to. It wouldn't be any harder than that.

Thinking about what I did wrong, I think I realized my mistake. I threw a punch and then launched fire from that punch. That fire was nothing special, just attached to a punch. It wasn't any more part of that punch than a regular Flames spell. I had to focus on both aspects: the punch and the attack. The Firebolt spell Neloth taught me was about collecting Fire into my palm and launching it out. I had to will it to launch; I had to will it to become stronger. So…that's what I needed to do then. The punch, the focus, the effort, the visualization. I can see now why Mother used this training method against me. This is how I learned.

I took a few deeper breaths as I visualized my body as a network of magicka and fire. I brought my fist in front of me, fully extended. I stretched my fingers out and willed my fire to gather at my fingertips, physically pushing with all my focus. I visualized and felt my Fire magicka push to my fingers. I willed the fire to gather into tiny orbs around my arm. I felt the crackle of Fire magicka and opened my eyes. Hovering around my arms were tiny collected dots of Fire magicka. They glowed warmly like tiny suns. I willed more energy into them and I saw the orbs grow brighter, a little larger. I willed them to compact, to get smaller. And the orbs did so. And as they did so, I felt the weight of them increase. They were not falling for the gravity spell anymore. And neither was I.

I was so focused on my task that I had forgotten I was surrounded by a gravity spell. To be honest, I was covered in so much Fire magicka that I could have levitated if I wanted to. I looked up at my Mother as she nodded her head in appreciation. "You still have to light the candles." She said.

I willed one of my orbs to my middle finger. The orb was slow to move, but it eventually got there. I put my full concentration on that one orb. When I flicked my finger, I wanted the orb to launch over to the first candle. It had to travel quickly so it had to launch with enough will and effort to escape the gravitational pull. I mentally put a trigger on my finger for that orb. When I twitched my finger, actually flicking my wrist as well, the orb took off like an arrow. It slammed right through the air like a shooting star, slamming into the wick of the candle. The wick exploded into a tiny light. A steady fire started glowing on it. I had lit my first candle.

"Do all at once." She replied.

I studied the rest of the candles. Nine of them…one for each finger. She had planned this from the start. So, I repeated the process. I created small orbs of fire magicka just as powerful as my last one to each of my fingers. When I had all ten summoned, I spent my concentration on each orb as I connected a mental trigger and a pathway to follow. I realized shortly that as I went from finger to finger, I was still maintaining a small bit of concentration of each other trigger in my mind, as well as the pathway for each orb of magicka. By the time I got to orb 9, my mental ability to focus was strained to its max. I almost lost it altogether, but I managed to hold it together. When I had all nine figured out, I flicked all ten of my fingers.

The orbs took off like shooting stars that danced around the room. Each orb hit its wick, and the candles hovered above me, glowing lightly. As soon as all the candles were lit, my Mother nodded her head. "See what you can accomplish with a little focus and intention. You don't need to throw your magicka around needlessly. Less is more when applied correctly." She let the spell around me drop. "Do you perhaps wonder why I had you run this drill today?"

I nodded my head. "I thought it was a little odd, but I guess you want me to be stronger, more precise…like a real Telvanni mage?"

She shook her head. "While those things are nice, and it warms my heart to see my daughter follow in my footsteps as a mage, the true reason for this training is to prepare you for Ash. Ash is a special element, Veselle." Veselle? She actually used my name! She hardly ever uses my name.

"How so?" I asked as I started to sit down in seiza. It was class time again. Time to learn something new.

"Each grain of ash…every grain of sand and obsidian we manipulate…we have to focus on. Ash is a difficult element because you must view every particle of ash as a part of you. You must become the ash and let the ash become part of you. For you to learn this element, you must have complete focus of every little detail of your spell. But once you understand what you're dealing with, it will be your strongest element. You must combine your passion of Fire with the creativity of Air, with the stability of Earth. You must be all three to command Ash. So…today we will learn about Air and Earth magicka." She nodded to me. "Follow me to the training circle."

"Mom…I haven't even learned Frost yet, how can I learn Air and Earth?" I asked her as I followed her out of the room into the circular room set up with blazing candles that formed a pentagram.

She scoffed at the idea. "Frost can only be obtained by emotional damage, Veselle. Air is created through creativity and ingenuity. Earth can be learned by being emotionally stable and physically strong. Fire is passion, Earth is stability, Air is ingenuity, Water is flexibility, Frost is coldness, and Shock is inner balance. Ash is survival. All these elements can be learned, but only if you can be everything. You do not need to know one before learning another. You learn them as you progress and grow as a mage. It is hard to use them all at the same time since people have trouble being passionate while also being cold. You are all about passion, Veselle. You wear your emotions on your sleeves; you express yourself openly. Can you be like that while closing yourself off from others? Can you be as cold as ice while burning like the sun? _Can_ you be both? Hardly. But you can be both, one at a time. As long as you understand what it means to suffer, you can understand Frost. Until such a time comes, Ash will be your trump card."

I nodded. I think I understood. So, each element that people learned are formed based on their own personality and mental clarity. That made a great amount of sense, really.

"To make this even more confusing for you, there are different varieties for each element. The density, the intensity, the combination factors. Fire comes in sparks, waves… invisible, blue, yellow, orange, white. Not to mention you can combine different elements to form entirely new spells. Adding real passion to your fire, and forcefulness, the power of Earth, will turn your magicka into lava. These combination are not just limited to Destruction either. Did you know that you can Conjure your little friends with weapons and spells of your choosing? They share your magicka, so they share your spell flexibility as well."

I nodded to that last one. "Kyuu does that all the time. He says he only grows as I do. He only learns spells that I unlock."

"Your Kyuu is helping you to achieve the most you can if he only limits himself to what you know. Either that or he's completely useless without a master." She shook her head. "As an Aedra, I would not be surprised if that were the case, however. Those spirits are generally peaceful but strong. They tend to reflect their owners than have their own lives and personalities. Alone they are robotic and await instruction. For Kyuu to have the personality he does, he probably has to reflect how you want him to be."

Kyuu was the way he was because I wanted him to be it? If that was true, then Kyuu was nothing but a puppet that I summoned. That saddened me a little. I had hoped that Kyuu was truly my friend, but if he was just an extension of me…was he truly my friend or a teddy bear that walked and talked? Of course, Kyuu acted differently than me all the time, so that couldn't be completely true. He had free will, even shared it with me when he tried to kidnap me. Unless he was following Neloth's orders, then he would just be an extension of Neloth. That made me even sadder.

Mother saw my growing frown and shook her head. "It's not in the manner you may believe it is. Your creatures have their own desires, wishes, but their power and how they use their power is reflected from you. If you use Destruction to fight rather than defend, your creatures will as well. Or perhaps the opposite to create a balance. Their nature is reflective of what is needed at the moment. Their abilities are reflected of what you know, what they know, and how fast you both grow." She nodded me to join her in the set of circles she had set up for Gwen. "Join me in here and we'll expand your knowledge of the elements. When you leave this circle, you will meditate on what you have learned. You will be smarter, stronger, and more in tune with the world as it is."

I walked into the circle, clutching my staff in my hands as I did so. With a flick of her finger, my staff was torn from my hands and cast out the circle. "You will not need that. It is a tool to limit your progress. Here, we wish to explore what you can learn. Water and Air today."

"What about Frost?" I wanted to know more about Frost. I had that one Frost spell imprinted in my head, but I wasn't able to create it yet. There was something I was missing.

She shook her head at the idea. "I know you're wondering if Frost is a form of water. I will tell you it is not. Frost is an entirely different element in this case. Water element is formed from fluidity and flexibility of one's behavior and actions. To go with the flow, as some would say. It is the element of the traveler. The one that explores the world to see it as it is. Then you have Air. Mostly monks achieve this element. They accept the world for what it is, neither trying to affect it or change it. The Graybeards in Skyrim and the Winddrakes in Elsweyr are good examples of air elementals. Air is very much like Water in the way of flexibility but it has a more spiritual sense to it."

Mother closed her eyes for a second. Wind started gathering around us at a slow speed but then started speeding up until I could see a hurricane surrounding us. "Wind can be created in a Destruction sense, but it is slow to gather to attack with. The best examples of Wind magicka are the Ward and Shield spells we produce."

I nodded. "Ok…so…how would I attack with Wind?"

She stuck out her hand. Wind seemed to impact me. "There are intensities you can produce with Air, different strategies. Feeling defensive?" As she questioned me I felt the air underneath me pick me up into the air. I was suddenly tossed around the training circle, but before I could crash into the ground another gust of wind would catch me and toss me in another direction. Then the air around me started spinning me around in circles. She let me stay like that for a few seconds before letting me fall onto the ground. I felt so sick that I could barely stand up. "Feel like dominating someone?" Right as she said it, I felt air blast into my ears. My ears started ringing, and if that wasn't enough, my sense of balance went right out the window. I fell onto my side, the room spinning around me. "Feel like killing someone?" I felt all the air in my lungs fly out of my mouth. I tried to breathe in but no air came in. I was suffocating! I was going to die.

Mother dropped her hand and everything went away: the spinning room, the ringing ears, and my inability to breathe. I took a few deep breaths as I lied on the ground. "Wow…" I breathed as I looked up at her. "When do I learn that?"

She smirked. "It takes years of focus to achieve that with Air magicka. Someone of your intensity could perhaps create a hurricane to throw at someone, perhaps toss them around a room. Why not combine your Fire and your Air magicka?" She suggested as she brought her two hands together. A small spark of Fire suddenly erupted into a wave of fire that was flying right towards me. I jumped out of the way, but with a wave of her hands, the Fire suddenly came alive and started following me. Just as it would have fallen on top of me, the fire died out. "When you use your Fire alone, it only travels one way. Air, you can control. When you combine Air with Fire, you can control your fire. This is one reason why we learn to combine our magicka. Learn to summon both. Be passionate and creative. Learn to be fierce and flexible. You learn these, and then you learn how to control yourself. You learn to control yourself, and then you will become a Telvanni Lord."

I sat there as I looked up at my Mother. I suddenly had the urge to admit to Gwen that she was right the whole time. My Mother was a better Telvanni Lord than Neloth was. She deserved to have me here. I needed to be learning from her. She knew how to get through to me, while Neloth didn't. She was the teacher I really needed. I smiled and nodded as I pushed myself up onto my feet. "Ok, how do we start?" I felt excited. I mean, I've learned a lot while being here, mostly about necromancy. And I wasn't too happy about learning that, but this…this excited me. Layers upon layers of magicka theory. I could learn so much just today about what I was truly capable of.

"First, you must focus on becoming like the wind, in order to summon Air." She said as she paced around me. "You must become the air you breathe. You must be here, and not here. You must be everywhere."

Ok…that sounded weird, but ok. So, I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. That's one way to start getting into this mindset. As I tried to visualize Air, I started thinking about my aching body. My feet weren't too happy with me. Kyuu wasn't too happy with me either. Last time I saw him, he jumped on top of me and pretty much tried to kidnap me. Then I watched him blow up. How did mom do that? Did she use some sort of Air magicka to get him to blow up like that? Did Anari use Air magicka to do that pulsy zappy thing that…

I felt a sudden impact on my head which made me jump back. When I opened my eyes, Mother stood there with a smirk on her face. "Don't space out."

I rubbed the sore spot on my forehead. "I thought the point of the exercise was to let go."

"It is, but you still must focus on not focusing." She replied, trying to hide a glint of humor in her voice while telling me to focus on not focusing.

"Sounds confusing and annoying."

"It is for the first ten years you try." She replied, stepping back. "Just remember, let go. Let it go, let it go..."

I covered my ears and hissed at her. "No! I've heard that song too many times already."

Mother chuckled to herself as she stepped away from me. I decided to keep my eyes open as I started breathing the air around me. I stayed like that for a few minutes, just breathing in and out. I focused on the air coming in and out. After a few minutes, my eyes started to relax and my eyes drooped. It was then that I could feel the way the slight breeze brushed against my skin, the way the dust danced in circles. Always moving, never settling. I was suddenly aware of all the open space, of how air could be everywhere and in any form. It was then that I realized that magicka was just like that. It could be anything, anything I wanted. I was not limited in any sense. Magicka was raw intention. And I wanted it to form Air.

There was a sudden shift in my body. That warm feeling I had when I used my Fire disappeared. It was replaced with this light bubbly feeling, this always changing flowing feeling of everything. I had achieved self-mastery for creativity. No wonder monks live like this their whole lives. I would. My body started to move on its own without my guidance. My hands lifted up into the air, my feet barely touching as they skimmed the ground. I knew this style of martial arts, Sai Ki, the meditative martial art the Winddrakes mastered so long ago. And I was now learning it. When my hand moved left, I felt a small breeze move with it. I don't think I created the breeze, I think my body moved with the wind. Interesting.

Mother nodded happily at me. "Well done, Veselle. You handled that transition well. Now, will Air to strike me."

I don't know how I was going to do that. I mean, I'm one with the air so…my body cannot move itself. Why should it? It's so calm and relaxed, why should I change its current course? I had to fight with myself as I came to terms with that. Should I change the way I think about my body and its relationship with the air that surrounded it? Should I turn the air around me into a weapon? I started visualizing the air around me gathering into a wind. I suddenly realized that the wind around me wasn't the wind she wanted me to use. It was my magicka, the force inside me; not the force outside me.

So, when I started thinking internally, I could feel the Air that filled me now. It was the Air as an extension of me. I could use this Air because it was me. It was not the air outside me that I could not command. This Air could be commanded, could be manipulated. So, I did. I struck my hand out, doing the same thing I did with the Fire magicka I did earlier. I willed it to fly out of my palm like a spinning cyclone. And it did. I watched as Air magicka, almost pure white, materialized outside my outstretched arm. It spun around me, twisting my robes as it flowed off my arm into my palm. Once it reached there, the air blasted off into a spinning beam of wind. It soared over to Mother, covering her instantly. Mother stood there, using one hand to cut her way through the torrent of Air.

I held it for a second before the Air inside me naturally died off. My spell had run its course and that was that. When it was over, my Mother nodded to me, even clapped with her one useful hand against the one that she couldn't use anymore. "Well done, Veselle. You've done in one day what it takes many years to accomplish. I wonder if you'll take to Water so easily."

"Isn't it just like Air?"

She scoffed. "You'd think, but no. It takes emotional flexibility, not mental. A bigger difference than you would think possible. That is how Water and Frost are related. Water is the flexibility of your emotions, your ability to come to terms with your emotional self, to allow yourself to be flexible. Frost is your inability to be flexible with your emotions. Frozen in a constant cold self. Fire is passion. Your emotions control you. Water is flexibility. You come to terms and master your emotions."

I nodded. Ah…so it won't be so easy for me then. "How do we do that?"

"I cannot say. I could put you through a series of tests, but if you fail, you'll unlock Frost, not Water." She shrugged. "Pain and endurance. You either master your emotional body, or you lock it away. Those who unlock Water rarely unlock Frost. And those who unlock Frost rarely unlock Water. It's a difficult relationship, the two have." She waved me to follow her. "Come. We must teach you Earth now. When you unlock Earth, you will begin to figure out what Ash is really about."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_How did you guys like my interpretation of the magicka system? I will explain more about it as Veselle learns more, but I think I did a great job explaining how the magicka within us forms depending on different variables. I wish the Elder Scroll universe was more like this when it came to learning magicka in the game system, but then you'd have to create a character using a personality quiz, use skill points to unlock different intensities. Honestly, it would take a lot of work just to figure out how to make it all work and by then the entire thing would be confusing and stupid. Works in books just fine, but in games it would be a wreck.  
_


	24. Escape from Witch Tower

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, everyone. I have some announcements. I, as of right now, know exactly how I'm finishing this arc. Welcome to the final three chapters of Arc One. I won't ruin it for you, but once again, Veselle will unlock Frost magicka by the end of the Arc. And right after that, I will begin working on Arc 2, the one where Asger come into the story to help bring down Miraak. I will not work on any other stories until I finish this arc, because I'm afraid I will lose what I already have planned.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 12th of Mid Year. Yesterday, I spent the whole day practicing Air and Earth magicka. It was weird, but Earth was easier for me than Air was. Earth was a lot like doing martial arts in the physical sense. I can see why a lot of mages don't know about it. Most mages don't like the physical approach to combat. Mjoll definitely taught me well enough if I could figure it out, and my mother was great at pointing me in the right direction so that I could unlock the potential to use Earth. So now…I can use Air, Fire, and Earth as elements. Today, I finally learn how to combine the three of them to learn how to use Ash. And after that, I can learn how to create an Ash Guardian. I can't wait._

_Gwen has been placed under medical watch since she's pretty much lost it mentally. She's back to normal, I guess. Mother goes in to look at her heart stone, which is starting to look healthier now. I would agree if Gwen would stop trying to kill herself or us. She's so…mentally broken. I can't explain it, but half of what she says is confusing. It doesn't make any sense the things she says, and if we let her go, she'll grab a knife and start carving into her arm. It's scary, and disgusting. And she does it with a smile. Gwen's lost it. But, from what I heard from Mom, that's who Gwen is. How the hell did she survive this long on her own anyway?_

_Veselle._

_…_

Today's practice area was a sandy arena filled with ash. Mother had left me alone with some Ash Spawn to train with. She was doing something somewhere. I think it had something to do with Gwen's experiment. Mother seems to think that Gwen is recovering nicely. She's her own person all of the time, and that was a good sign that Gwen was fully back to normal. Could have fooled me though. She keeps trying to kill herself, me too whenever she gets loose. But, that's the thing. According to Mom, Gwen wouldn't try to kill herself if she was under the effects of the heart stone. The heart stone is a lot like a hive mind borne virus. It wants to spread the illness to the whole planet, and it can't do that if its affected are killed themselves. The heart stone was protecting Gwen this whole time by making her jolly; you know, keep her so happy that she wouldn't want to kill herself. Now that Gwen was trying to commit suicide, that meant that the heart stone wasn't affecting her at all.

If it was true that the heart stone's ash poisoning was completely gone, Mom was going to let me leave so that I could find Neloth. Then I had to bring Neloth back here so that I could free Mom and Gwen from their problems. But…I guess releasing Gwen would be more like killing her at this point. There wasn't much we could do for her. Her madness was her own, not created by heart stones. I guess I'll do what I must do, if I have to do it. I don't hate Gwen; I think she's a great person…sort of. I don't want to kill her, but at this point, it just might be a kindness.

I shook my head of the thought as I looked around the room. Several Ash Spawn stood around the arena, all looking up at me with some sort of expectation. By now, I'd learned all their names, and their personalities. Each Ash Spawn had a different, well, aura for a better lack of a term. I could tell the difference between them all anyway. Standing in front of me was Spore. He was the new leader now that Vol was dead. He was the strongest of the Ash Spawn. When he met my eyes with his red glowing spots filled with malice, he nodded to me. "Are you prepared?"

I took a deep breath. "In order to unlock Ash: I must be passionate, I must be creative, and I must be mentally set on going forward. Ash is about survival, and I cannot survive without going forward with a heart full of heat and a mind as quick as a falling star." I took a deep breath, filling my heart with every ounce of courage possible. Courage was passion going forward. Once I felt that click, I knew that I had unlocked Magma element. I could create magma in my magicka now. I wouldn't be able to control it though. If my courage wavered for even a second, the magma would melt me just as fast as anything else. This was amazing. This one element could be what saved my life one day. Why hadn't I been able to do this sooner? Oh yeah…Neloth never explained this to me.

I let my mind wander with new exciting ideas and I suddenly felt the melting courage in my heart harden into an earthy substance. My heart had been filled with the ash that flowed out of the magma. Wow…I never made that connection before. Ash really was what spawned from Air, Fire, and Earth. And just like that, I could feel every little spec of ash around me. I could feel it like it was part of me. Kind of like how I could feel the wind shift around me earlier, now I could feel every spec of ash at my feet. I remember what Mom told me about attacking with Ash. I had to visualize every spec of ash on the ground as an individual effort. I had to will them as a group to do what I want. It was the only way to use Ash for attacking, or defending. I expanded my awareness out to the Ash Spawn. I could feel them too. They were held together by the magicka of the heart stone. It gave them life, which the heart stones were bits and pieces of Lorkhan fused with Ash. The souls of the departed were infused with the Ash to create a hive mind, to which the master mind was living in the heart of Red Mountain.

That's when it clicked. I could feel the call of the Ash. I could feel the winds, the souls of the Mountain call to me. I suddenly understood what Mother had been telling me this whole time. The Mountain really was trying to spread the ash around the world. The Mountain wanted every part of Tamriel to be one giant barren wasteland filled with Ash Spawn. He wanted all the races to be his slaves, to do his bidding. Eventually, he wanted to use the magma to expand the land until there was no water left on the planet. Then there would be nothing left but a planet of ash, a planet he controlled. We would all be Ash Spawn, living in a hive mind. I had to stop this! But how?

I nodded to Spore. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Spore didn't hesitate as he stuck out his hand. I felt the ash gathering in his palm, hot and heavy. I knew he was blasting me with an attack spell. His hand balled up and then fired at me. I felt him gather more ash through his feet to replace the ash he had fired at me. Amazing. I had never understood how they could attack before, but now I understood. As long as they brought more ash into themselves, they could do whatever they wanted; although the heart stone could only control so much ash at once. That's why the Red Mountain needed mages to do its bidding. It needed things that could operate outside of the ash. I finally understood how to beat Red Mountain…get rid of those being controlled by heart stones. Just like what Mother was doing now.

I opened my eyes to see the ball of ash flying right for me. I stuck out my hand to stop it. I tried to visualize the ash coming at me. I wanted to veer it away from me. I pushed my willpower out and made contact with the ball of ash. Too late. I felt the ball of ash smack me in the face. You ever been hit by a snowball? It's soft but stings a little because it's cold? Yeah, that's what this felt like, only hot and not cold. I didn't get a chance to say anything before the other Ash Spawn started firing balls of ash at me. I tried to collect myself but every time I got my concentration under control I'd feel an impact on my body somewhere. I was literally standing there being blasted with ash while I tried to stop the attacks coming at me.

It went on like that for an hour. It was finally when I heard the door open that the Ash Spawn stopped pelting me with ash. I looked down to see that I was almost waist deep in ash. The arena was almost depleted except for around me. I pulled myself out of the ash pile and turned around. Mother was waiting for me by the doorway. I waved to her. "Hi. What's up?" I said as I walked over to her. She had her hood pulled up over her head, and she had those hard looking eyes again. Oh no.

I felt my body stiffen as she used her Telekinesis spell over me. "It time for training." She said as she pulled me up into the air.

"What training?" I called as she dragged me out of the room. "I was practicing Ash."

She scoffed. "Being pelted with Ash is not training, it's playing." Ash Spawns started gathering around us, more than I'd ever seen before. They started following us as we went into a bigger arena, one filled with skeletons. She tossed me through the air until I crashed into the middle of the ashy arena. "You will fight for real now." She directed her stare to the Ash Spawn. "Kill her." She looked at me, her eyes glowing bright red. "You will either destroy the Ash Spawn, or you will suffer a horribly slow and painful death." She turned to leave the arena, melting into a shadow. When she vanished, the Spawn around me started growing swords in their hands. There were easily twenty of them, maybe more than that. More just kept piling out of the ash, like they were zombies. The room was quickly filling up with them. And I still didn't have my staff.

I looked around for something I could do. I saw a lot of skeletons around me. That's it! I couldn't stay here, not anymore. Gwen was trying to kill me; Mother was trying to get me killed. I couldn't stay here anymore. I would go get Neloth and bring him here. As far as I could tell, the silver trick was what was going to save Mother and Gwen in the end. I just had to go and get him and then come back. If I was going to do this then…yeah. I'd have to summon Kyuu.

As I started forming a plan, I felt a heavy bash on my face. One of the many Spawn chucked a hard ball of Ash on my face. My face burned wickedly as the ball bounced off me. Stars danced on my face and I felt more impacts all over my body. All the Spawn were firing at me now, hitting me with everything they had. I was trying so hard to use Ash but at this point, it was more about survival than some stupid element. I stuck my hands up to protect my face and I screamed. I wanted the pain to come to a stop. And that's when it happened. The Ash on the ground flowed up, forming a protective shell around me. I watched as the ash rose up, solidifying into a shell around me. Oh…ok. Instinctual magicka. I guess that makes some sort of sense. That didn't mean that I was suddenly going to say that I should stay here. Mother told me that she was losing the fight. If evil Ildari was in place of Mother, she must have lost her mental battle. Evil Ildari was probably here to stay now. I was almost certain of it. She'd been struggling for days to stay sane while she prepared me for whatever might happen. I guess she finally lost her battle to the ash poisoning. Time for me to leave.

I let the shell of Ash fall around me. Ash Spawn were coming up to me, swords raised. I looked down at the ash and visualized the ash hardening into a straight pole. I reached into the ash and felt the hot presence that I'd learned to feel with Ash. I grabbed something solid and lifted it up. I pulled a straight pole of Ash out of the ash. It was like my old bo staff. Perfect. I twirled it around, but as soon as I did that, the staff broke apart. Oh yeah…I have to focus on keeping it together, don't I? I didn't have time as a Spawn slashed down at me. I stuck out my hand and mentally broke his sword. His sword fell apart. I reached into his body and pulled his heart stone out. The Spawn fell apart as I did that. Countless more Spawn were falling down on top of me though. I had to think fast. I blasted my hands out, willing all the ash to fall apart. It was a stretch because I had to see every Spawn in my mind fall into pieces. But it worked. The Spawn fell back into the pit, lifeless. Their heart stones glowed from where they fell, but other than that, there was nothing. They didn't even try to pick themselves back up either.

"Hello, Vessy." I heard the broken laugh of Gwen as she struggled to walk into the room. Her arms glistened red and she was smiling wickedly at me. "I can smell the blood on your face. It looks so pretty. I want to see more!" She announced as she ripped a portal open in front of her. "Show me your blood!" She charged at me, reaching into the portal and pulling out a large Daedric sword.

Ok, I really didn't want to go through this. I visualized the Ash on the ground flowing up and slamming her. When I launched my fist out at Gwen, the Ash on the ground lifted up and slammed into her like a wave. It buried Gwen enough that I forced the Ash to harden enough to hold her down.

"It burns!" She screamed, laughing as she twitched. "It burns so good!" She cried as she looked at me. "Vessy, want to burn with me? It will be fun, I promise." She tried to move her legs and her arms, but they were covered with enough rock-like Ash that she wasn't moving anytime soon. "Please play with me! I'm so bored, and I only want to see your blood. I want to see it coat the floors, the walls…everything. I want to see my blood too." She struggled but it didn't get her anywhere. "I can get to my arms! How can I see my blood if I can't reach my arms?" She started crying. "Vessy, I can't reach my arms. Please let me go now. I only want to see us bleed."

I shook my head and started walking out of the room. I kept my distance from Gwen while I did so though. She was crazy right now, but she was still dangerous. "Gwen." I stopped by the exit. "I promise I'll make this right one day. We'll get your mind fixed."

Gwen looked up at me and her eyes started to tear up. "You sound just like that stupid…Talvas." She started struggling again, this time more forceful. "You think I'm weak, don't you? You think I need your help? I'll kill you, Vessy. And then I'll paint my walls with your blood, so that I will be reminded of the good old days." I backed out through the door, never taking my eyes off Gwen. She struggled to get out, but I could feel her eyes on me even as I backed out of the room. "Vessy? Vessy!" She screamed after me. I heard her screams turn to sobs. "Please don't leave me… I promise not to cut too deeply." She started crying.

I couldn't stand here and listen to this. I shook my head as I walked away from the room. This was so messed up. I couldn't believe they had to live through this. Especially Gwen. I felt so sorry for her, but there was nothing I could do for her. Her version of helping herself involved mutilating me. And that wouldn't help her in the end, but it would hurt, possibly kill, me.

I walked through the hallway, keeping my eye open for Ildari. As I walked past the operating room, I saw her shadow in there looking at some old book. She hadn't seen me so I silently snuck past her. I walked into the dining room. I looked around for the bottle that had Anari inside it. I had to get her and make a run for it. I wasn't leaving here without her. The dining room was filled with a lot of stuff, but I didn't see the bottle. I looked up the staircase that led to Ildari's bed chambers. It had to be up there then. I pretty much ran up the stairs as quietly as I could, always looking over my shoulder for Ildari. I didn't see anything.

I finally got upstairs. I could see Ildari's bed near the center of the room, bookshelves, an enchanting table, an alchemy table, and finally a nightstand. The bottle containing Anari was right on top of it. I ran over and grabbed the bottle. I hugged it close to me, smiling. "I got you, Anari." I slipped the bottle into my pouch and turned to run. I jumped over the railing, freefalling to the dining room. I landed pretty silently. I looked around for any sign of either Ildari or Gwen. Neither of them was near me. I silently took into a run through the hallway. I didn't know how to get out of here. If I let Anari out, she could tell me. I didn't want anyone to know that I was leaving though. And having Anari out would be a pretty good indicator that I was leaving.

I snuck past the room with Ildari in it without drawing attention to myself. Ok, that's a good start. And that's when I broke into a sprint. I tore through the hallway as fast as I could. I charged past the battling arena with the crying/screaming Gwen, who was still screaming for me to come help me kill her. I almost stopped to talk to her, perhaps try to get her to calm down and be normal. I didn't stop because I didn't have the time to wait. I also knew it was hopeless at this point. Gwen was lost…just like my Mom. They were both gone for good. I had to get Neloth. He'd help. As much as I hated him, he was the only one that would help at this point.

I don't know how long I ran around in circles. Every corridor was the same. Ash Spawn filled almost every hallway I could see. They didn't look violent though. They looked at me like they would a passing person on the street. Just a glance and then they'd go back to work. I thought about letting Anari out, but I still didn't know if it would cause something bad to happen. I don't know if someone would try to kill her. And any commotion would bring Ildari, and that would be a bad thing. So, I settled for running around the castle, going into every room, looking for a door I could go through. Some doors led to other rooms with abandoned beds, some to what looked like ancient bathrooms. Yuck. I'm glad we have toilets. I'd hate to poop into a bucket and then toss it out into the street like an idiot.

I had traveled down a few levels of the old fort before I found myself by a door that was enchanted. When I walked up to it, I stuck my hand out at the door. The door wasn't enchanted, the entire building was. This was the doorway leading to the outside. The second that I opened this door, Ildari would know that I had left, because the enchantment was an alarm system. If I broke the enchantment, it would warn Ildari as well. I didn't have a choice. I had to leave, and this was the only way out. The enchantment covered the whole building. Even if I didn't go through the door, passing the enchantment would set it off. Anything with a soul big enough to fill a grand soul gem would set the alarm off. I looked down at the bottle filled with Anari. She wasn't so big a soul. Neither was Kyuu. But…they'd be attacked by any Ash Spawn on the other side. And I wasn't sure if they could get away. And once again, Ildari would know soon enough that I had taken Anari. No… I had to be the one to leave.

I took a deep breath as I pulled the door open. I felt the enchantment snap into alert and I took off for the courtyard. I sprinted as fast as I could while reaching into my pouch for the bottle. I pulled it out and popped the top. Anari was suddenly beside me, her wispy groan alerting me to her presence. "Are we out?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Go tell Neloth where we are. Go!"

She nodded and vanished. I paused and let my emotions get riled. I let the fire gather all around me and I thrust my hands into the air. A cyclone of fire surrounded me and I let it roar into the sky as I beacon of my location. Neloth had to at least know where I was now, even if Anari didn't get to him. As soon as I lit the sky up with my magicka, I felt a whammy on my face. I was suddenly slammed into the ash as Ildari morphed in front of me. "So…you survived." She hissed at me. "And you broke our promise. First, I will carve out your little heart…" She let that sink in. "And then I'll put in a new heart, a better one. And then you will come with me to kill your little friends as punishment for betraying me."

"You think I'll do whatever you want?" I screamed at her. "You can't control me!"

She hissed out a laugh, picking me up with her Telekinesis. "You will see once you have a proper heart, daughter. You will gladly kill your friends, if it means putting a new heart into them as well." Whoa…that was a scary thought, but it matched what I knew about the hive mind of Red Mountain. She started pulling me back into the fort. "Time for your operation." She hissed as she pulled me back into the castle. No…I couldn't get away this time. This was it. Unless Neloth got here in time…there was no stopping it this time. I was truly going to die.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so... you will see how this will end. Enjoy the end. Well, end of Arc 1. I cannot wait to see how it finally ends.  
_


	25. The Operation

**Cearbhail**:

_And we have another chapter. Tomorrow I will finish the first arc. I'm happy that it's finally ending. I'll be happy to move onto the second arc where she's fifteen and dealing with Miraak and Asger. I really cannot wait for that. Anyway, I'll finish this up tomorrow. I'm tired and I'll only make mistakes if I keep going like this.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear Veselle,_

_In my final moments, I want you to know something. I really tried. I was barely hanging on to sanity before I found you. You gave me the strength to fight the demon inside me, but she has worn me out. I feared sleep because sleep draws her closer to me. And I knew that if I slumbered she would take the opportunity to take over my body. Once she has it, it's hard to get it back. And each time I fight her, she grows more powerful while I lose part of my soul against her. The Ash poisoning has pretty much claimed my whole body by now, and soon I'll look like nothing but an Ash Spawn. If you ever find this letter, I want you to know that I'm sorry. It was my fault you were taken from your father in the first place. I'm sure you already know that, seeing as how I unlocked your memories. And the sad thing was that I wasn't all that crazy back then. I just wanted you back from him, but I was paranoid that he would try to kill me if he knew I was still alive. Or try to save me. I liked the power at the time, I reveled in it. But I still wanted you, and my demon wanted you too. I think some part of her intention is what sent me back for you in the end._

_But anyway, I can feel her coming up again. She's making one final assault on my mental barriers set up to keep her out. Two days without sleep are taking their toll. I'm sorry, but I know thi sis the end for me. The final assault for my mind. You have to leave, have to find Neloth. Show him what you learned. Silver must be the key; it has to be! Gwen is almost back to normal, and my demon knows it. That's why she's pushing so hard. She'll try to stop you, so you'll have to stop me first. Just know that I will let her take me, so that at the right moment…right when it matters most, I will hit her with everything I have. I'll let you kill me. It's the only thing I can do to save you and Gwen. Tell Neloth I'm sorry, but never forget what you learned here. As a final gift from me… I want you to keep my staff. It has healing magic in it. It can create a protective circle that heals you and your friends while repelling negative forces, including humans._

_Ildari Sarothril._

_…_

I watched with horror as Ildari carried my floating body into the carving room. The first time I was in here, she had been dragging me by my arm, and I had been using Flames to attack her. The attack had done nothing and I had gotten nowhere doing it. Now, I was floating in mid-air with no ability to move my arms or legs. My magicka was Silenced to the level that I couldn't even summon a spark of a flame even if I felt like my heart was going to explode with fear, which was pretty much true right now. If I could get to my magicka, this entire place would have melted to the floor.

"Mother…" I heard Gwen call into the doorway as she poked her head through. She had that twisted smile on her face. "Mother, Veselle won't play with me."

Ildari continued to drag me through the air, but turned to look back at Gwen. "Veselle is busy right now."

Gwen smiled. "Ooh! Is she finally getting her heart stone implanted?" She jumped up and down. "Will I be able to kill her now?"

Ildari nodded and slammed me onto the table hard enough for my lungs to blast out all the air I had. My head spun as I lied there. I felt the invisible force surround me as Ildari floated up to me. "Yes, Gwen. Right after her operation, you may play with her as you see fit. If she gets too mangled, I'll just use Restoration magicka on her heart stone and she'll be good as new…every…time…she…dies." She glared down at me with eyes so empty and calculating that I think I wet myself a little.

I glanced at Gwen, who looked at me with eyes wide and joyous. She motioned to her red palms, covered in her blood. "Hear that, Vessy? Soon we'll be able to play all the games I love. You'll see how great they are. Dying is so much fun." Fun, huh? Oh gods I hope it's fun. I'd rather die than go through this anymore.

I looked up at Ildari as she waved her hand over me. My robes started undoing themselves. With a flick of her wrist my overtunic flew off my body. My body had been levitating just enough to make that easy for her. Once it was gone, Ildari untied my keikogi. She exposed my chest and then reached out for one of those really old rusty knives that looked like it would be more painful to use just because it was broken, dull, and had more than one sharp edge on it. I struggled to move, but as she bent down to slice into me, I felt the tower around us shake. Ildari paused, as did the joyous Gwen. Ildari snapped her head up like she was sniffing the air. She flicked her wrists and the straps on the table wrapped around me, securing me to the table. I struggled to summon my magicka, but these straps were draining my magicka. I couldn't do anything.

Ildari waited for a few seconds before turning back down to me. "Must have been nothing." She mumbled to herself before she slowly brought the knife down on my sternum. I felt a sharp flash of pain as the knife started slicing into me. I took a deep breath and tried to scream, but my screams were suddenly contained inside of me, much like my breath had. My body froze again, and I knew it was Ildari's work. She didn't try to numb the pain I was feeling though. Didn't even try to knock me out like last time.

I glanced at Gwen, who bounced as she looked at my wide eyes. "I'm so jealous." She reached down and started touching my chest, pulling her fingers away with my blood on them. She looked at it for a few seconds, saying, "It's so beautiful, Vessy. So red and vibrant." I'm going to go crazy, I just knew it. Watching Gwen stare at my blood was going to drive me crazy. Not to mention after this whole thing was over, I was going to be handed over to Gwen to be horrendously murdered over and over again as part of some sick and twisted game. And there wasn't anyone coming to save me either. At least not before I had the heart stone implanted. This was happening…it was really happening.

I felt another tremor and the knife plunged thicker into my body, drawing an actual scream from me. I could feel the knife hit my sternum, and thankfully that was the furthest it could go. Ildari pulled the knife out and turned to Gwen. "That was an attack. We're under attack."

Gwen nodded. "Do you want me to play with Veselle while you check it out?"

Ildari growled at Gwen, saying, "I want you to go check it out while I attend to this surgery."

Gwen's smile faded away, but she nodded. "Ok…I'll go kill our intruders." She looked down at me, grabbing my hand with her bloody ones. "I'll be right back, Vessy. And then we'll play tag. The fun way." She winked at me and then ran off towards the exit. I was actually happy to see her run off. That just meant I didn't have to watch her poke her fingers in my exposed tissue and pull out a rib bone or something to play with.

Ildari looked back down at me and steadied her knife hand as she started reaching down at me again. I felt more tremors hit, a lot more. It was becoming more of a continuous streak of thumps instead of isolated ones. I felt so relieved that the room was shaking as much as it was, because Ildari looked incapable of working while the room shook. There was a louder boom, one that sounded like it was coming from inside the building, and it drew Ildari's attention away from me. "Someone has breached my enchantment. Two…four…eight." She growled and looked down at me. She dabbed a cloth at my bleeding chest and threw some Restoration at my bleeding wound. "Don't die before I can implant your new heart." She hissed at me before quickly vanishing out the room like a serpent shadow.

As soon as she exited the room, I saw a flash of lightning so thick that it covered the whole room. Ildari was tossed back immediately, crying in alarm as she was tossed aside. "You dare hurt my apprentice!" Neloth roared. "Where is she?" He screamed and I saw more lightning flash down the hallway towards Ildari. I felt the pressure holding me still vanish and I started struggling against my straps. I still couldn't use my magicka, but I'll be damned if I let someone like Talvas walk in on me shirtless and strapped down to a table.

"Anari!" I screamed to the sky. And just like that, she morphed right beside me.

"I managed to get Neloth." She announced to me in her sing-song librarian voice.

"That's great." I replied and started struggling. "Can you…how can I say this… UNSTRAP ME FROM THIS TABLE?" I screamed to her.

She backed away from me, crossing her arms. "With that attitude, I don't see why I should."

I groaned and bounced against the table. I hoped the straps would just let go and I could get up. No such luck. "Ok…I'm sorry. I'm just a little on edge because two crazy people are trying to cut me up, pull out my heart, and throw a rock in its place."

"If they do that…I won't be your spirit anymore." She mused for a second, rubbing her tentacle chin. Damn…she had a good point. She didn't exactly like me, but it was her mission to protect me, so I didn't know why she was even bothering with this act of hers. She finally nodded and then started undoing my straps. "Ok then. I'll unstrap you." She touched one of the straps and was welcomed to a shriek of pain as lightning coursed through her. Anari was suddenly thrown back into a wall where she drifted down to the floor, her eyes glazed over. The strap must have been enchanted with an attack of some sort. She managed to loosen one of my hand straps before it happened though. I started twisting my hand through the loosened strap. It wasn't much room, but I could pull it off without breaking my thumb or something stupid like that.

"Gwen?" I heard Talvas call in the hallway. I looked out to see him standing in the dining room. Gwen was standing near the fireplace. She looked uncertain, like she was afraid for a second. I thought about calling out to Talvas, but I was still half naked, and he was the last person I wanted to see me like this. So, I started twisting my hand, getting more than half of it out of the strap, only to stop to catch my breath and try again. My wrist made a small pop a few times but I managed to pull it out. I almost smacked my own face doing it too, but I was happy to have my hand loose. I still couldn't use any magicka, but it's a start anyway. I reached down to my other hand strap and pulled on it. I felt a course of lightning course through me. I screamed in pain as I felt my body burn me. "Veselle?" Talvas screamed as he snapped his head back towards me. "Veselle!" He screamed again and started running towards me.

"Don't turn your back on me!" Gwen screamed and charged at him, throwing black fire at him. She slammed a wave of fire right over the exit of the dining hall, and I was unable to see what happened next. "You think she's cuter than me?" Gwen screamed. "Is that the kind of girl you're into now? Is she the one you moved onto once you left me behind? Did she make you happy?" She sounded so crazy that I couldn't even understand what was going on. Was she mad or laughing? I don't even know.

"Gwen…" I heard Talvas say. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were alive. I thought Ildari killed you."

"Mother _saved_ me!" Gwen screamed. "She _saved_ me from the reavers, while you saved _yourself_!" I heard and felt more fire landing all around the dining area.

My head stopped spinning from the lightning that coursed through my body and I managed to slide my hand out of the loosened strap. Ok…two hands down. If I can just get my chest and ankles loosened, I should be able to just slide out. But…I couldn't reach my ankles without leaning up. That would mean that my chest strap would have to be all the way off. That…would be hard to do with the Shock enchantment. I looked down at Anari, who was now starting to wake up. "Anari!" I screamed to her.

She shook her head and looked up at me with her beady eyes. "Yes, Elle?"

"I have a plan. You have to loosen my ankle strap enough that I can slide my feet out. Think you can do that?" I pointed to my ankle straps. "I will loosen my chest strap and then…you'll have to drag me out. Should be easy."

Anari nodded. "I think I can do that." She glided up off the floor and over to me. She reached over to my ankle strap, took what I guessed was a deep breath and pulled on the strap. I saw lightning course through her, but she managed to pull the strap out enough that I could slide my feet out. She let go of the strap and drifted back a few feet, taking a few labored breaths before shaking it out of her. "Since I knew what to expect, it was easier for me to deal with. It caught me by surprise the first time, not anymore." She said to me as she drifted over to my head.

I took a deep breath as I reached for the strap pressing down on my chest. I closed my eyes as I reached for the strap and pulled it straight up. My arms turned to jelly instantly as lighting coursed through my body for a second time in a minute. My body started to spasm and I think I bit my tongue. I didn't have to suffer too long before the pain stopped. And that's when Anari grabbed me underneath my shoulders and pulled me out of the operating table. I was so done that I didn't even try to catch myself as I tumbled out of Anari's arms and onto the floor. I barely felt the collision too. My arms didn't want to move, my legs were useless. I struggled to stand up, struggled to move. What I did do was stretch out my hand and warm up a Conjuration portal. I visualized a link to Kyuu and tossed the ball out in front of me.

The ball popped into a portal. It sat there for a second before Kyuu padded out, looking down at me with sad blue eyes. "Nice to see you again." He said cutely as he looked down at me. "Wow…ok, maybe not so nice to see you again."

"Heal me." I said to him. He nodded and walked on top of me. His ears flicked up and I saw the white light embrace me like a welcomed hug from Mom. I felt the hole in my chest heal up, my brain cells regenerate from being shocked a few times, not to mention my little drinking contest with Talvas when I fought the dragon priest. I felt new life wash over me and I took a nice deep breath. I sat up, wrapped my hands around Kyuu and squeezed him to me, saying, "Thanks, Kyuu…I'm never letting go of you ever again."

"Never?" He questioned me as I squeezed him. "I think I liked Nrillia better." He groaned as he squirmed out of my hold. He bounded out of my hug and over to my clothes. "Come, partner. We should get you dressed before you go out to fight. Don't need you blowing up your rescue squad."

I nodded to him and ran over to my tunic. I redid my keikogi and my hakama before making sure the rest of my robes were perfect. And when they were on, I had Anari fix my twintails while I briefed them both on what I had learned and what I wanted to happen. "Listen, Gwen and Ildari are actually decent people. Their heart stones are killing them, and we can fix it. We just need to tell Neloth that I have a recording of a procedure that will save Ildari's life. Gwen needs some strong mental therapy."

Kyuu smiled. "I can do that. My Heal Beam can also fix mental illnesses."

It could? That seemed farfetched. "How?"

He smiled. "Duh…I'm an angel!" He squeaked. "I'm a healer from one of the Nine gods. I could cure cancer if I wished it. And a mental illness is still an illness. It can be cured." He looked up at me. "I just need to be close enough to heal her."

I nodded. "I'll get you close enough." I looked at Anari. "While Kyuu and I take on Gwen, I want you to tell Neloth about my memory. Can you relay memories?"

She stared at me for a solid three seconds. "Do I _look_ _like_ a telepathic spirit?" Huh…for some reason I thought that my plan would just go as…planned. Oh well.

"Fine, just tell him I have a way to save Ildari. Tell him to not kill her. Help him subdue her if you can." I said to Anari.

"I will tell and aid him immediately." She vanished like she always did.

I turned back to Kyuu. "Ok, let's go help Talvas fight Gwen. I'll try to help him get her to the ground so that you can heal her mind. Ok?"

He nodded. "Nice to be back with you, Veselle." He purred and jumped onto my shoulders. "Are you going to wear these black robes every day now?"

I looked down at my gray and black robes. I _did_ like black, and it _did_ look good on me. "Hmm…we'll see." I said to him. "My mom gave these to me, so…yeah, probably."

He sighed. "Just like Nrillia…" He stared off at the ceiling.

I flicked him on the forehead. "Yeah…I'm not some evil necromancer. Now…come with me. I'm going to assemble a bunch of skeleton warriors to help us fight Gwen." He just glared at me without saying anything as we raced out of the room.

"You learned how to animate dead things?" He sounded disgusted with me.

"Yup…I did it a lot. Like once, I had to sweep the dining room. I animated a skeleton to do it for me. I sat there and sipped on some chocolate milk while the skeleton did all the work." I laughed as I ran down the hallway. I heard fighting above us. It sounded like the Redoran guard fighting the Ash Spawn. "Oh…Captain Veleth is here too?" That was nice. I was hoping he was worried for me too. I paused as I suddenly realized…this was it. I was going home. Back to Neloth…back to Talvas…everyone. Life would go back to normal after this. And maybe we could have two more in our lives: Mother and Gwen. That would be nice. I could see us all living in Tel Mithryn, laughing at the rising sun, eating some apples. It was a nice thought.

"You just wanted to control me!" Gwen screamed to Talvas. "Use my body and throw me away! That's what all men want!"

"What?" Talvas sounded confused. "It wasn't like that! I _loved_ you!"

Oh yeah…people could die if I didn't get moving. I reached the ashy arena and looked at all the skeletons that filled the place. "Kyuu…please don't hate me for this."

He glared at me, took a deep breath, and then sank his head on my shoulder. "Nrillia said the same thing once. She never went back." He looked at me. "It gets easier if you let it."

I shook my head. "Trust me, Kyuu. I'm not evil."

"Not yet." He corrected.

I reached into the ash, feeling all the bones just sitting there. I visualized all the bones in the room. I willed them to collect into bodies and then mapped out how many it would be. Twenty. Twenty bodies I had to create souls for. That was easy for me. Just like the Destruction training I did earlier. I brought my arms out and started creating twenty small Conjuration orbs filled with my personality traits and desires. I gave them all a little piece of what made me a person and I launched the orbs into the ash. Bodies started crawling out of the ash: skeletons with glass black magicka muscles that looked more like ligaments.

I looked back at Kyuu and smiled. "Did Nrillia ever do that?"

He looked away. "_That's_ how she started."

I watched as the skeletons walked over to me, waiting for me to give them orders. I waved to them and they all started forming rank files, all standing at attention like soldiers. One of the skeletons stood there, his hands behind his back as he addressed his troops. "Men…we have orders to save this girl…" He pointed at me. "and her friends. I will not lie to you. Some of you won't be coming back from this fight. What we're looking at is a suicide mission, but that's why they chose us. We're the Elite Guard. We take the impossible missions…the ones others call suicidal. Take a good look at those standing to your left and your right. Chances are…they're sharing your body parts. You probably have his leg or something, we don't really know. But what we do know is that we're all in this together…and one of us is probably made up of all of us. Probably me. Now…let's go out there and do what we were created to do." He turned to look at me. "Orders ma'am?"

I nodded. I pointed up above me. "The Redoran are fighting the Ash Spawn. Go kill those Ash Spawn and help the Redoran Guard with anything they need help with. Identify yourself as Veselle's Elite Guard to the Redoran. They will back you up."

The leader of the skeletons nodded. "On it, ma'am." He turned to face the other skeletons. "You heard the ma'am. Move like you still have flesh on your bones!" He screamed and then charged for the exit. The other skeletons screamed and charged out the door with him.

Kyuu looked up at me, nodding. "I take that back…you're nothing like Nrillia. She just made them into husks unless she modeled them after herself. You…you gave them personalities…didn't you?"

"Didn't seem right to bring them to life without a life of their own to live." I said to him. "Now…we have to something else we need to summon."

"Summon?" He asked me. "What?"

There was nothing I could do to fight Gwen or Ildari. I know that. I've fought her before. She used the same magicka I used. She would just blow through my flames and slash me with her sword. I wasn't good at holding onto Air, Earth, or Ash yet so that was off the menu too. There was only one thing I could do. I had to create the thing Mother wanted me to create: an Ash Guardian. I needed a heart stone to do that though. That's when I remembered the heart stone necklace lightly attached to my neckline. I reached down and grabbed it. It pinched a little when I pulled but it came off easily enough. I snapped the silver chain it was attached to and then looked at it. It had a lot of time to absorb my magicka. This thing must have been pretty powerful by now. I bet it could be used to create a powerful Ash Guardian. Too bad I didn't know the first thing about creating one. Oh well…I'll just make it up on the fly.

I stabbed the heart stone into the ash. And then I stood there like an idiot. What was I supposed to do next? I remembered that Mother kept a book she wrote on creating Ash Guardians in the training arena…the one Talvas and Gwen were fighting in right now. That would mean that I would have to run in there and grab the book while they were fighting. Or…or I could just make the Ash Guardian in that room. I could do it. I reached down and picked up the heart stone. I looked at Ash, nodding to him. "Ok, Kyuu. Gwen and Talvas are fighting for their love…and I'm about to create something so powerful that they both will fall on their knees to me."

He rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you aren't evil?"

I smirked. "Evil? No…jealous…maybe. Just a little." Gwen might be a lot of things, but she was still in love with Talvas, and I was sure of that. And Talvas never loved me because he still loved her. That was a problem. I had to save them both because I'm nice, but I still need Talvas to love me more than her. Not fair. I want to do the right thing, but at the same time, I don't. Doing the right thing and saving her life will only make Talvas love her again, and her love him. And...if I don't…Talvas still won't love me and he'll lose Gwen too. And Gwen will probably kill herself. Dammit! I can't win no matter what I do!

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**Cearbhail**:

_One chapter left to go. Wow...can you believe it? An entire arc just ready to come to a close. Next chapter...I don't know how long it will be. It might turn into two chapters where one is the aftermath chapter...but don't forget. Ash Guardian and Frost...I cannot wait to show you what happens. Well, I might disappoint you guys with what happens. This is one of the first times where I planned all this out...where I don't just go off on one of my famous finger misdirections, where my fingers decide that ... nah, we'll write this instead. I hate preplanning chapters, but my stupid head wouldn't shut up and said, "This is perfect, get up at one in the morning and go write this down...you won't regret it." Anyway, I might be the craziest person in this story. Kinda like Gwen, only not with blood and torture like her. Well...maybe when I was younger I was, but that was like a long time ago, way before my time in the army. Wow...didn't mean to share that. Have a nice day ^^  
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	26. Ash Guardian

**Cearbhail**:

_I hate this site so much. Last night it wouldn't let me manage my stories, which meant that I couldn't upload my new chapter. So, I decided to split the final chapter up into two chapters and post it today. The final chapter was longer than 11 pages, which most of mine are 7. When I split them up, the second part of the chapter, as I felt it was, was rushed. So... I was more than happy to split the two chapters up and make them better. I will work on the second chapter now and finish fixing it. It deserves to be a proper chapter. While I work on that, please enjoy reading this one.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
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_The Conjure Ash Guardian Spell_

_Hello. If you are reading this book, then you have been selected to build your very first Ash construct. My name is Ildari Sarothril, and I am the creator of the Ash Guardian. It is a mobile self-healing, free-thinking atronach created out of the Ash element. If you've ever worked with Bound creatures before, then you know that you need to make a contract with your creatures that you summon. The Ash Guardian is a little different however. It does not belong to Oblivion or Aetherius, therefore there is no contract to be made with said construct. It is also not a summoned creature, but one of your making. The Ash Guardian is more of a necromantic art rather than one of pure summoning. The Ash Guardian also does not return to Oblivion or Aetherius when it is no longer needed either. It is a construct of Tamriel so it does not die within a time limit, so there is no rush in using the Guardian. It is a permanent construct. It can be dismissed, but I will explain that later in the instructions. Let's begin._

_The Ash Guardian is a unique spirit. You must have knowledge in Ash because you'll be the one creating it. You need a quiet space, free from any distractions. No attempting this spell with a war around you, or two homicidal women trying to kill you or your boyfriend. You also need a lot of Ash around you. And lastly, you need a heart stone. It must be a heart stone that's been on your person for at least two days and has fed off your body's magicka. And that's it…that's all you need to create your Ash Guardian. Now, let's move onto how to actually create said Guardian. You need to meditate on your heart stone. You must use the energy from your body to create an artificial soul, much like what you do for necromancy. If I planned on you creating an Ash Guardian, you would have learned necromancy early on to get the hang of it. Creating a soul for the Guardian is critical. Without the soul component, the Guardian will attack anything it wants, and will only respond to the Red Mountain's hive mind._

_Once you have programed the Guardian's soul you must put the heart stone in the ash you wish to use as your construct's vessel. You must visualize the heart stone's soul reaching out and grabbing the nearby Ash to latch onto. The more Ash you visualize bonding to the heart stone, the stronger your Guardian will become to start with. The heart stone will do the rest. The Ash will start gathering around the heart stone, which will become the heart and brain of the Guardian. Once it forms, you must confirm that you are its master and that you created it. And that's it, that's all you need to do to create your first Ash Guardian. If you ever need to dismiss it, do not worry about having to recreate it. The heart stone will contain the soul for the rest of your natural life. You just need to chuck it in some Ash and the Guardian will pop right back up. In order to dismiss it, all you need to do and will the construct to go to sleep in the heart stone. It will go into 'sleep mode'. Then to do the same to bring it back, you just need to will it to awaken and then toss the stone into some nearby Ash. That's all you need to know about the Ash Guardian. If you have any questions regarding the Ash Guardian, refer to the Help Section of the book called "So I accidentally ordered my Ash Guardian to Kill Me."_

_Ildari Sarothril._

_…_

"So… your plan is to go run into the room filled with Talvas, the boy you love, and Gwen, the girl that wants to kill you…and you want to work on memorizing a spell while they try to kill each other around you?" Kyuu asked from my shoulder as I stood by the entrance to the training room. When I was first getting out of my operating table, Gwen and Talvas were fighting in the dining room. But it would seem that they had moved their spat into the larger training arena, the one that Mother tried to kill me in earlier today.

I watched as Talvas held his ground to Gwen. Gwen was launching black fire down at him like a monster straight from Oblivion. Talvas was more defending himself with sheets of Frost than he was attacking her. Of course, he was firing sheets of Frost around the battlefield, but they looked weak. It was like his Frost was melting or something. While I was watching, Talvas launched a few Icicles at Gwen when his protective shell of Frost was torn apart. As soon as he launched his Icicles, he had to dive out of the way because Gwen's black fire was falling down upon him. The Icicles never even made it to Gwen. They melted in the wave of black fire. Gwen's ferocity was only getting stronger, which in turn was making her own attacks stronger. It was easy to see that she was slowly starting to overpower Talvas and that he wasn't going to last much longer. I had to hurry, otherwise I wouldn't have a man to go save.

I looked over at Talvas. He looked like he was struggling to defend himself against Gwen, but just like what I'd expect from him, he wasn't giving up. As soon as he stood back up, as more black fire threatened to consume him, he created another giant Frost Shell to protect himself with. "Kyuu, go cast a Heal Beam on Talvas. Get him back up to fighting strength. Tell him about my plan to restore Gwen's sanity."

Kyuu nodded to me, jumping off my shoulder and bounding over to Talvas. I turned my attention to the small desk near the other end of the room. I could see the book I needed to read so I took off in a dead sprint for the desk. "Just die already!" Gwen screamed as she started pounding on the massive Frost Shell with one of her Daedric swords covered in her black fire. I watched as the Frost Shell exploded into steam and bits of water flying everywhere. Gwen was breathing heavily, but when she leaned down and screamed bloody murder, I think she was only getting started. She charged after Talvas to be welcome with an Icicle missile slamming her in the left arm. It froze her arm in a block of ice, but it quickly shattered when black fire started covering her body. She looked at Talvas and charged for him again. He took a defensive pose and brought up another Frost Shell to protect himself with. Had to hand it to Talvas…he was trying really hard to wear her out.

I looked away from the two fighting teens and ran for the desk. It wasn't too far of a run anymore and I ended up there without causing any attention to myself. That's when the wall next to me exploded. I was tossed off my feet and into the ash, and someone crashed down on top of me. Man, it was heavy, whatever it was. I heard him groan as he pushed himself up. "I've trained and trained, and yet…I still cannot fight her." Neloth said as he rolled himself off me. He then noticed he was lying on top of me and then nodded to me. "Apprentice, it is nice to see you in one piece. I heard from your bound ally that you have a plan for defeating Ildari."

I nodded. "Yes. She put a memory recording spell on me. Just take the information from my head and then do something with it."

He looked at me for a second before nodding. He reached for my head and I felt him grab something. He pulled it out and then I saw him bring it to his own head. His eyes flickered for half a second before he took a deep breath. He looked down at me, nodding. "I see you remember who you really are."

I sighed. We're in the middle of a war…people could die if we didn't get moving…and he was bringing this up now?! "We'll talk about that later. Right now, I have to save Gwen and Talvas." I looked through the hall in the wall to see a floating Ildari covered in magma and lightning. "And it looks like you have quite a fight on your hands."

He looked over at the floating Ildari and shrugged. "We both fight for the ones we love. And this is not the first time I've seen her like this. I'm sure you realize this, but dating an emotional girl is not easy. When they get mad…they tend to fight you." He looked down at me, rubbing a hand in my unkempt hair. "You're just like her in that regard." Oh, please. Just because I tended to hurt Talvas when he tried to do stuff to me doesn't mean that if I started dating him that I'd try to kill him if he pissed me off. Well…maybe. Ok, I would. I totally would.

Neloth pushed himself back onto his feet saying, "It won't be much of a fight anymore. Silver is the trick huh?" He looked down at the heart stone on the silver necklace. He snatched the stone and pulled it from the silver. He handed me back my heart stone, saying, "Get to work on your spell. I'll buy you as much time as possible. And thanks for the silver." He walked through the hole and I heard a series of explosions as Ildari started fighting him again. I watched them for a second as Neloth and Anari worked together to keep Ildari on the defensive. If they kept up this teamwork, I had no doubt that they'd eventually get that silver injected into her heart stone.

I turned my attention to the book. I flipped it open and started reading it. I read through my mother's humorous introductions and straight to the instructions. Quiet space required. "Talvas, get over and fuck my brains out!" Gwen screamed as she slammed black fire into another Frost Shell. I flinched as she screamed and slammed more fire down onto the ground. Ok…I doubt I'm going to find that quiet space. Need plenty of Ash. I looked around the room. It was nothing but ash. Ok, that's a check. And I need a heart stone that's been feeding off me for two days. That's a check too. I read into the creation of the soul through the heart stone. That would be very easy for me. I had to create a soul, which from what Mother showed me through Mannimarco's reconstructed journal hinted to the need for a passion, mentality, and sexual desires. Wow…how did I create those?

I sighed as I clutched the stone close to me. I folded myself into a seiza position and closed my eyes. I focused onto the stone and willed it to listen to me. I wanted it to take the form of a soul. The heart stone seemed to connect to me, and I felt it reach into me. As soon as we made that link, I was suddenly teleported from my body into the stone. There was this giant ashy area. There was one stone hovering in the middle of the sandy desert. When I walked up to the red stone, an Illusion panel opened up.

_Personality:_ It read. I shrugged and tapped onto the screen. _Custom? Borrow all characteristic from you?_ I shrugged again and went for the Custom. Always make custom stuff. The screen blinked for a few seconds before opened up to a list of questions.

_Soul Information Sheet_

_Name:_

_Gender:_

_Master:_

_Passions:_

_Dislikes:_

_Fears:_

_Passionate 1 – 10_

_Independent 1 – 10_

_Aggression Level 1 – 10_

_Intelligence (Based on your own current level) 1 – 10_

_Pick 5 Traits. Pick Favorite Color. Favorite Style of Music_

I sighed as I started filling in the sheet. Name: Volana. Gender: Girl. Master: Veselle Tenvanni. Passions: Marital arts, studying Ash element, cooking, farming. Dislikes: Ash yams. Fears: Making Veselle upset. Passionate: 8. Independent: 7. Aggression: 6. Intelligence: 10. Let's see… Proper, Proud, Loyal, Bookworm, and Adventurous. Favorite color: Seafoam. Favorite music: Rock and Roll.

As soon as I hit save, the screen vanished and I was teleported out of the room. I opened my eyes to see that I was still sitting in seiza with the heart stone in my hand. It hummed with some acknowledgment of what I created. I took the heart stone in my hand, stood up, and returned to the book. Ok…shove it into the Ash and visualize the heart stone connecting to it? I can do that. I sank down into seiza again and shoved the heart stone into the ash. I visualized the energy flowing off and attaching to the Ash in the ash. I visualized the energy reaching out to all the Ash around me, or as much as I could visualize around me. I took a deep breath and completed the spell. I let go of the heart stone and waited. There was a pulse and then Ash started pulling the heart stone down. There was another pulse and a small wind started blowing around me.

I stood up and jumped away as soon as a face exploded in the Ash. It mouth twitched as two red beady eyes glared at me for a second. The face grunted as it started pulling out a body with it. Ash started pulling off the ground, gathering around the floating head and shoulders. More Ash started spinning around the construct and the two beady eyes looked at me. The construct continued to gather in size and shape until it was a spinning hurricane of rocks and Ash. A floating hand motioned towards me and the head of the Guardian bowed to me. "I am Volana, Master Tenvanni. How may I help you?"

I pointed to Neloth. "Go help Master Neloth slow down Master Ildari. He needs to secure silver to her heart stone. I need to go help Talvas slow down Gwen. Come assist me when you're done with helping Master Neloth."

Volana nodded to me. "Of course." Just like that, she took off like a hurricane. I paused to jump up and down for my successful attempt at creating an Ash Guardian. And I modeled her after me enough that I could have some interests with her. Not like how I try to connect with Anari but end up talking to myself. Now I had a spirit that would be easier to play around with.

I sighed as I looked over at Gwen and Talvas. He was holding his own with a Frost Shell but I could tell he was almost done. I raced over to him, dodging small pockets of black fire that would have rained down on me as I got closer to her. I closed my eyes and visualized the Ash in front of me. I willed it to respond to my instinctual combat. I hoped this worked easier than what I had tried to do earlier. I brought my fist up and threw a punch. The Ash, small little dots of it at least, rose off the ground and smashed into Gwen's face. It hit hard enough to through her off her attack on Talvas. She tumbled onto the ground, and she was staying down for a second or two at least.

I got to her just fast enough to keep her from destroying what was left of Talvas's Shell. I saw him go to a knee, grabbing his chest as if he were having a heart attack. His Shell was melting quickly now, like the Fire hadn't been the reason why it was melting so much. I looked back at Gwen to see her standing up, rubbing her chin. I sneaked a peek at Talvas. "Talvas! What's wrong with your Frost magicka? It looks weak."

"It's because I'm not cold-hearted right now." He responded. "I love Gwen…and she's alive. I can't be cold when I fight her. It's just not possible. My Frost is melting because I can't hold onto my coldness." He glanced at me. "You wouldn't understand; you only use fire-based magicka."

Of course that was the reason. Figures. He had no problems using Frost when he was trying to make out with me in the caverns fighting Draugr. And now that Gwen was in the picture, he was suddenly becoming a new person? Any illusions of Ash disappeared as flames started growing around my feet. I was getting angry at Talvas. All this time, and he still ignores me.

Talvas glanced at me. "If this continues, I might have to switch to Fire again, just like you. I hate using Fire since it's not as strong as Frost, but it looks like I'll have no choice!" He roared as he stood up. Blue flames blasted from his body, thick and strong flames that I had never seen before. "Take a good look, Gwen. These are the blue flames of love! This is the strongest flame your body can produce!" Blue flames of love? That almost made me laugh. That was the corniest joke ever made. But, if I thought about it, he was probably being literal. The color of our flames changed behind the core emotion being used. My orange flames were flames of passion, according to Ildari.

Gwen laughed as she looked at me and then at Talvas. "Both of your flames cannot compare to my own." She screamed as black flames flowed off her like a volcanic eruption. "Flames of love, flames of passion! They both pale to the emotion of betrayal, of vengeance." She aimed her flames at me. "You both betrayed me, and I want revenge for the hatred you've shown me." She waved her hand at me and I felt a heavy searing pain wash over me as the black flames consumed me. I acted quickly as I covered myself in a shell of my own fire. More of the black fire rained down on me until I felt a blue flame wash over me as well. The blue flame canceled out the black flame, and I was on my back, looking up at the ceiling. I let myself catch my breath before I sat back up. And when I did, I found out that most of my robes had burned away.

I shrugged, rolled my eyes, and brushed off the burnt overtunic. My sleeves were gone too. My hakama was still in pretty good shape, and my under layer was still pretty good too. I quickly wrapped a Fire protection spell over the rest of my clothes before I ended up without them again. I looked over at Gwen and Talvas to see them trading fires with each other. They would attack with continuous blasts of fire while also pelting each other with exploding Fireballs too. I took a deep breath as I stretched my hands out. Sure, I could have just poured my anger into my attack and sent it to Gwen, but that wouldn't solve anything. She was stronger than me, and I knew that. No… I had to focus on what I wanted my flames to achieve. Just like when I trained. I focused on building balls of fire on my arms. The tiny orbs flickered to life, gathering in intensity as I let them grow stronger as I poured more fire into them.

"Talvas! Get out of the way!" I screamed as I let the tiny balls of fire fly. Talvas looked at me and I swear to Mehrunes Maven that he intentionally jumped in the way. He attacked my orbs of fire with his own blue flames. And the explosion it created threw me off my feet into the ash. I could tell it threw him off his feet too. We both hit the ground pretty hard. I tried to sit up but as soon as I started standing up, Gwen was in my face.

She jumped on top of me and started punching me in the face. "You stay out of this!" She screamed to me, slapping me as hard as she could with the backside of her Daedric sword. "This is between me and Talvas." She stood up and kicked me once before smiling. "We'll play after I chat to Talvas. Bye, Vessy." She poked me with her sword and then ran over to Talvas.

"Partner!" Kyuu called as he ran over to me. He ran up to me, jumping onto my chest as he took a deep breath. His ears flicked up but he started coughing. He looked down at me. "Veselle…I don't have much magicka left. If you want, I can heal you…but if I do that…I won't have enough left to heal Gwen."

I watched as Gwen walked over to Talvas. She started screaming words at him as she started lighting him on fire. Talvas screamed bloody murder while Gwen went right for his chest with her Daedric sword. I had to sit there and watch as Gwen stabbed Talvas…and there was nothing I could do about it. Talvas looked at Gwen for a second, and then looked over at me. He managed to smile before saying, "Save her…" His eyes closed and his head fell into the ash.

I pushed Kyuu off me as I stood up. "Save it for her." I grumbled to Kyuu. I wanted to say, 'Use the last bit of your magicka to save Talvas.', but he'd never forgive me for it. I cupped my hands around my mouth. "Hey, Gwen!" I screamed to her, drawing her attention away from Talvas. "You done talking to your boy toy yet?"

She looked over at me, her smile vanishing. "I told you to leave us alone, Vessy!" She pulled her sword out of Talvas's chest, which drew a small groan from him. I looked down at him. His arms were still slowly moving. He was still alive! I just had to keep Gwen away from him while he started using Restoration on himself. Gwen snapped her head back down at Talvas, then looking up at me. "You love him, don't you?" She looked at me.

Love him? Of course I loved him. He was the closest thing I had to a friend since I came to this island. He had pretty much done everything with me, and when he was drunk he turned into a romantic, if not too much into one. He was perhaps my best friend, not to mention my first kiss. And no matter how I felt about him, no matter what I did past this point… he would love Gwen, the psychotic bitch that loved blood and guts, not to mention killing herself, more than the boy that was chasing after her. And I've been here the whole time! I've been there for him, but from what I can see, Gwen will never be! Unless I somehow win this fight and get her head healed.

"Yeah, I do love him." I said to her. "Unlike you."

She laughed. "I do love him. I love him to _death_." She mused as she walked up to me. The two of us stood just inches away from each other while we stared each other down. "And I love you too, Vessy." She leaned in, grabbing me by my back, and pulled me in. Next thing I knew, she was trying to kiss me. I pushed her off fast enough to get her away. That was when I felt a small pinch in my stomach and looked down. Her sword was just touching me. If I hadn't pushed her away…she would have killed me! I'm so sick of her trying to kill me!

I kicked Gwen away from me, and she fell to the ground. "What is wrong with you?!" I screamed to her as she started scrambling to her feet. Black flames started pouring off her body as she turned to attack me. I shoved my hand out, blasting her with pure fire that was starting to turn black. She hit the ground, screaming in blissful pain as she roasted on the ground. "I've tried to be nice to you!" I screamed to her. "Tried to help you, and you just keep trying to kill me! I'm so sick of it! I've had enough!" When I stuck out my hand to attack her again, something different happened. Frost blasted out of my hand, slamming into Gwen hard enough to freeze her to the ground.

I felt a sudden chill over my body, like I had somehow changed. Goosebumps traveled down my arms and I stood there. I looked down at Gwen while she struggled to melt the ice covering her body. Her flames couldn't begin to melt the ice I covered her with. I was done feeling sorry for her, done caring about her pity party. She had too many opportunities to get help and she rejected all of them. When I looked down at her, I could feel that ice covering my heart. So… this was Frost. A cold indifference. This is what Talvas lived with every day. Is this how he felt even when he was around me? I refused to believe that this is how he felt. I must have sparked some amount of feeling inside him. I had to admit… this was hard for me to hold onto. Sure, I hated Gwen, but I doubt that I could keep her out of my heart like this. She needed help, and no matter how much I hated her right now, I wouldn't betray my friend. And just like that, the ice covering her body started to melt.

"Kyuu!" I screamed to him. "Heal her, do it now!" I had to hurry before the ice covering her melted away.

"On it!" He screamed and jumped onto Gwen's frozen body. His ears perked up and a white beam flowed out of his body. I stood there as I watched. Gwen continued to struggle, and at one point she screamed that the light was killing her. But as the healing went on, her screams of torture started to die off and she started drifting off to sleep. Once it was done, Kyuu looked up at me. "There, that should take care of a lot of it. But…I'm out of magicka now so I couldn't finish."

I looked over at Talvas. "What about Talvas?"

He shrugged. "I can't do anything like this." He looked up at me. "Unless you let me borrow some of your energy."

I nodded. "Do it."

I felt something inside me open up and I felt my body draining quickly. Kyuu took a deep breath he stood up. "Sorry, Veselle, but you're almost on empty too. I will do what I can." He bounded away from me over to Talvas. I felt more energy pull from me and I fell to my knees. My body started getting heavier and heavier. My eyes started to close as I felt more energy drain from me. "Just hold on, partner!" Kyuu cried back to me as he began healing Talvas. I looked at them as my vision started to blur. The last thing I remember seeing was Talvas moving his hand before my vision blacked out.

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**Cearbhail**:

_One chapter left to go. Wow...can you believe it? An entire arc just ready to come to a close. I know there are going to be some comments being made about what happens... so... ok then.  
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	27. Back Home

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, everyone. This is it. The final chapter for the first arc. I will start back up in maybe a week, but it will take place like two years in the future. This story takes place around the timeline of Maleek's Journey to find Ruby. The second arc will take place during the timeline of the Chronicles of Ruby. Asger will be joining the gang, and they will begin the actual questline of Dragonborn. So...Yay!  
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__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
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_Dear diary of shadows,_

_I don't really know what day it is. All I know is that when I woke up, I was in my bed. Not the bed at Mother's underground evil lair, but my bed back home in Tel Mithryn. Not sure I wanted to wake up here either. I wonder. If I never left home, would I be content to still be the daughter of the deceased Brand-Shei, or would I always be thinking of coming here to learn magicka as a proper Telvanni member? I really don't know, but I shouldn't really think about that. I still consider Brand-Shei to be my real father at this point, even if I do have my memories of Neloth back. Brand-Shei was there for me the whole time. He raised me as if I was his daughter, even knowing that I wasn't. I can't hate him for that, even though I want to because he lied to me for 8 years of my life._

_At any rate, I don't know what happened after the battle. I'm guessing we won since I'm home in Tel Mithryn. Otherwise, I'd be waking up in a totally different bed with a heart stone implanted. I know, I know… I already checked. My chest has been left untouched. Another thing I noticed…. No one is here to greet me. I woke up with no one standing over my bed to tell me what happened. No one! Sigh… Not even Talvas. Probably too busy sucking face with Gwen. I bet that's exactly what he's doing too._

_Veselle._

_…_

All things considered, I did not expect to wake up in my bedroom back at Tel Mithryn. I thought I'd wake up in the ashy training field I passed out in. But… as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw that I was lying in my bed. The blanket that used to cover my doorway was replaced with an actual door, and the line drawn for my old roommate's side of the room was gone. He must have gotten his own room after all. Thank the gods…I really didn't like sleeping with him in the same room. He was unbearable.

I pushed myself up, pulled away the covers. My black and gray robes were good as new. I bet I had Kyuu to thank for that. _Yup!_ He thought inside my head. _After you passed out, I had just enough to fix your clothes for you. And then Ildari dressed you._ Ildari? _Yup. She's all clean now. Well…sort of. You'll see. Go on, got out and see for yourself._ The fact that he said Ildari dressed me pretty much told me what I wanted to know. Ildari was still alive, and if I was at Tel Mithryn, chances are she was back to normal. Neloth must have been able to save her then. Thank the gods… I don't know what I would have done if I found out Neloth had to kill her. Heck, I'm not sure what _he_ would have done if he had to kill her. Probably erase my memory and send me away again.

I climbed out of bed and looked around my room. My desk had a bunch of books piled on top of them, most of them journals I had to read while I was learning Alchemy. Sitting next to them was the heart stone I used to create my Ash Guardian. Good, so I still had her. I had three staves sitting near my doorway. One was my old staff Neloth gave me, one belonged to a dragon priest that I killed, and the other one…hmm… I don't know whose that was. I walked over to it to inspect it. When I grabbed it, I could feel magicka similar to Kyuu's Heal Beam. It looked like it was enchanted with Restoration. Good. I suck at healing.

I walked out of my room and looked around. Tel Mithryn looked like it always did, except there was another mushroom building sprouting up on the other side of my garden. Must have belonged to Azarien, my previous roommate. So, I started by running over to his room. I knocked on his door loud enough to wake up the dead. There was a pause for two seconds before I heard, "Who is it?" Yup, that was Azarien's voice.

"Veselle." I replied.

"Ah, welcome back to Tel Mithryn." He replied through the door. "I would invite you in, but I'm working on some dangerous Alchemy and I do not wish to place your life in danger. Be a lamb and come back later." He said through the door.

"Um…ok." I said to him. "Nice to have you out of my room." I screamed through the door to him.

"I agree." He paused. "Goodbye."

I paused as our conversation concluded. Azarien was in interesting kid. He was OCD and some sort of heavily intelligent person, so intelligent that he had no social skills at all and didn't know that he had no social skills. He was my roommate for a week or two, and those days made me want to bash my head into a wall, as much to his own sort of amusement.

When I realized that I was done talking to Azarien, I ran from his door over to Talvas's. I paused by the door to catch my breath. I made sure my twintails were perfect and that my robes were nice before I pulled the door open. Normally, I knock on his door to give him time to wake up. But, right now, I want to scream into his ear to see that look in his face. And I saw Talvas alright. He was standing there…and so was Gwen. And they were kissing. They were wrapped up in each other's hands, making out in front of me. Figures. I knew this would happen, but I did it anyway. Still… it was better than seeing a sulking Talvas sitting in the frozen lair. That Talvas would have pushed me away and would never do anything with me anyway. I stood there for a few seconds before I realized that they hadn't noticed me. I sighed as I knocked on the door, making the two of them break apart immediately.

"Vessy!" Gwen screamed as she charged at me. I readied myself for a fight, but Gwen wrapped me up in a hug and squeezed me too quick for me to react. "It's so nice to see you're awake!" Her voice sounded very light and bubbly. It was like looking at the infected Gwen, which made no sense to me. She dragged me outside where she could spin me around a few times before setting me down. "Thanks to you…I'm still alive." Her smile vanished. "Still…alive." She almost growled to me, her face and voice changing. She looked more like the psychotic Gwen that tried to kill me all the time. What the hell? What did the Heal Beam do? She didn't look any different to me!

I looked from her over to Talvas. "Is she going to kill me?"

He shook his head. "It's a battle, but she's in a better mindset."

She dropped me on the ground and ran back up to Talvas, wrapping him up and kissing him. "And as long as I have you…I'll always feel great." She glared at me for a second before kissing Talvas, slamming the door behind her.

My heart hurt, I'll admit it. And Gwen knew it hurt. She still didn't like me. She acted like she did, but she dragged me outside so that she could dump me on the ground and go back to making out with Talvas in privacy. And she knew I liked him too. That would only make her hate me more. Great…I have an enemy here. I sighed as I walked away from Talvas's room over to the main tower. The main tower looked like it always did. I opened the round door and stepped into the levitator. I took a deep breath as I slowly rode up to the top.

I had time to think while I rode up. What would I find? Chances are I would find Neloth standing by his table looking over his notes. I looked down at my hands. They looked cold. When I summoned my magicka, mist started to form. Frost, huh? I guess seeing Talvas kissing Gwen like that would put me in this state of emotion. I definitely felt colder. I wonder if I would continuously switch to Frost because of them. I wonder if this is why Talvas was always using Frost. That empty feeling of seeing one someone you love with someone else, or in his case…dead. I couldn't hate him for it, but I could hate Gwen. Hating Gwen was easy. By the time I reached the top of the tower, I was ready to go lie down and take a nap.

"Sister!" I heard Brelyna cry out before I even touched my feet down on the landing pad. I didn't have any time at all to prepare as Brelyna suddenly ran up to me, wrapping me up in her arms. "I hear you finally have your memories back!" She squeezed me hard enough to knock me out. "I missed you so much! And not being able to tell you was killing me inside."

I hugged her back. "Aww…I could use a hug right now."

Her face lit up and she dragged me over to one of the benches. "What's up, little sis?" She squeezed the life out of me. It felt nice for once. And now that I knew that Brelyna was my sister, it made it easier for me to relate stuff to her. I looked up at her concerned eyes. I knew I could tell her and not worry about being laughed at.

"I just saw Talvas kissing Gwen." I didn't intend to hear my voice crack or see tears rolling down my eyes, but I couldn't stop it.

Brelyna hugged me close. "Aww…" She started rocking me, saying, "It will be ok." She must have known what it meant to me. It felt nice to be able to have someone know.

"Is she awake yet?" I heard Neloth say as he walked into the room. I was surprised to see him wearing an apron around his Telvanni robes. He looked at me for a second before clearing his throat. "Welcome home, Veselle." He spread his arms as a gesture. "I know we didn't have time to talk about…well, you know. Is there anything you wish to discuss? Perhaps any questions?"

I looked at him for a second before shaking my head. "I'd rather not go into this conversation just yet. Is Mom here?"

"In here!" I heard her scream out. "Just making some canis root tea."

Neloth smiled. "She does make the best." He nodded to me before turning around. "You might want to talk to Draseth and Zeratah. They're both very anxious to see you. And very angry too."

He turned around to leave. "Dad!" I almost choked on the word but it came out. He paused to look back at me. "Um…thanks. You know…for all the stuff you've done for me."

He grunted but nodded and walked away. "I may be your father, but I am still your master, and I expect you to refer to me as 'Master' if you don't mind." I guess that was his way of telling me that our relationship hadn't changed. And that was for the best, I think. I don't know how I suddenly would have acted around him if we had to change the nature of our relationship. But hey… I have a mother now, and a father. And a sister. I'm lucky. Pretty darn lucky.

I let Brelyna hug me for a few minutes. It was nice to have a sister. And to imagine, I thought of her as a sister before finding she was mine. After a few minutes of talking to Brelyna I decided to go see Seth and Zera. I bet they weren't too happy when I left them. I had to explain to them why I left. I waved goodbye to her as I went down the levitator. I thought about all the stuff I learned in the past few months. And I had been able to bring my mother back to life, as well as a few other people. Not too bad. And since I've been here, this place had grown into a nice small little town. I'd learned about so many different kinds of magicka. And my journey as a Telvanni mage had only just begun. Just imagine what I'll learn next. I just hope life here started to feel more normal. And I hope normal was peaceful added with some days of adventure.

I contemplated that while I drifted down the levitator. What would life be like for me now? I lived in a town dedicated to the reconstruction of the House Telvanni. I don't know much about my culture, Dunmer, at all, but I knew that the Houses were the ruling classes of Morrowind, our home. So… since we were all that remained of House Telvanni, that would mean that our town was now Telvanni headquarters. We were the next generation of Telvanni Lords: Brelyna, Talvas, Azarien, Gwen, Seth, Zera, and myself. I knew that we lived long lives if we wanted to, so…even a hundred years from now, I hoped that we were all still friends. Even so… could I be content to live here for that long? How long before Neloth believes we need to expand back to Morrowind, back to our native country? I really don't know. I guess I should be happy to be here while we are. I have a lot to learn before I'm ever considered a full mage.

I exited the levitator and went back outside. Standing near the doorway was Teldryn. He leaned against the tower like he had been waiting for me, but trying to make it look casual. Teldryn was always like that. He was like my older brother with the way he constantly took care of me. He even paralyzed himself so that I could go confront Mother about her calling me her daughter. I don't know if he cared enough about me to let it happen, or if he just didn't care about me. Either way, it was time I found out. "Hey." I nodded my head to him. He looked at me through his mirrored goggles and nodded back. "Thanks for letting me leave."

He pulled out his pad and quill. He started scribbling away and then showed it to me. _I saw the fire in your eyes. There was no stopping you without hurting the others._

I smirked. "Well, thanks anyway. It gave me everything I wanted. I learned about my mother…my father…myself." I nodded to him.

He pulled his pad back and started scribbling some more. _I'm glad you got what you wished for._ It read when he showed it to me. He pulled it back and wrote some more. _I was hesitant to let you leave, but something felt right about letting you go. Glad to see my instincts were right._

So, he had cared enough to at least think before letting me leave. I nodded to him, smiling as I waved. "See you later." He mock-saluted me as he nodded towards the farm. I knew what he was saying. He wanted me to go talk to the Vedes family. So, I nodded back to him and headed over to the Vedes farm. I looked around at the growing town. Soon enough, this will be a little town. We have plenty of houses already set up, and I'm sure with Gwen here there will be another house sprouting up soon enough. I paused by Talvas's little house when I heard a bunch of banging and Gwen crying out in joy. I rolled my eyes. I really didn't need to witness that.

The farm was right next door to Talvas's mushroom. They had a nice ranch building on itself as well as a full garden. Their house was on the other side of the garden. And my house was next to Talvas's. So… we had two gardens next to each other: mine and the Vedes family. Their house was near Azarien's. It's amazing how parallel our town was, but the Vedes house was the biggest of the little mushroom houses. They had to comfortably fit four people, two children and two parents. Their house was three times the size mine was, and it was two floors high. Their garden was pretty big too. They had collected some plants from their previous garden to here, and then they took some plants from my garden as well to add. From there they had some cows and chickens that they used as a source of milk and eggs.

Walking up to the garden, I could see Mr. Vedes tending to the cabbage patch. "Hi!" I yelled to him. It made him jump, which is easily my strongest power in this town. I always made everyone jump, but I used that power responsibly. Only on Talvas first thing in the morning.

Mr. Vedes snapped his head back at me. "Veselle? You're finally awake."

I nodded. "Yeah…how long was I out for?"

He shrugged. "Three days."

I nodded. "Ah." That was a lot longer than I had intended on. So…Gwen and Talvas had been making out for three days _and_ having sex? That was enough to make me gag. "That's heavily disappointing." I replied to myself, but it made Mr. Vedes nod like I had said it to him.

"I know Zeratah and Draseth will be glad to see you're finally awake." He replied.

"Hey, Vess!" I heard Seth scream to me. I snapped my head away to see him standing in the middle of our little road, coming back from the bath house we had built some time ago. Blue flames were pouring off his body. "What the heck were ya thinking?" He yelled at me.

I can't believe the first thing I noticed was the blue flames. Talvas had mentioned blue flames before, but I forgot what he said about them. But…that didn't matter right now. Seth looked pissed. I bet those were pissed off flames. I had to cool him off. "Oh…hi, Seth. I was just coming to see you."

His flames only grew stronger. "Did you even think about what us when you decided to leave with that monster? Did you ever consider how _we_ felt about you?" His blue flames only grew stronger as he stood there in the middle of the road. Is this how I looked when I went all hyper emotional on everyone? No wonder why everyone was scared of me. I saw tears flowing down his face as he looked at me. "And now…you just come back, acting all cool and stuff. You think I'm ok with that?"

Mr. Vedes chuckled to himself and ducked inside the house. "You two play nice now."

I took a deep breath as I brought my fists up. Seth was getting emotional, and he had the ability to conjure flames. He was probably like me and was unable to control them. His training robes looked like they were enchanted with fire protection, and I don't think I was walking out of here without a fight. "I see you're finally a mage. Learn how to use your emotions to create fire?" I said as I started wrapping fire protection around my own clothes. I did _not_ want him to accidentally burn my clothes off. If he saw me without clothes…I don't think there was a world strong enough to survive the flames conjured through that embarrassment.

He nodded. "Yeah, the day you left. These blue flames started blasting out of me. Now I'm going to share them with you. How I truly feel." The flames started twirling around his body, becoming a cyclone of blue. His eyes looked angry as hell, and I knew that no matter what I said at this point… we were going to fight. My dream of having some friends here was growing pretty desolate at this point. I'm sure that in time Seth and I will go back to being friends, and maybe he just wanted a sparring match with me. Maybe his training unlocked some sort of competitive side, where he wants to challenge the stronger kid on the block. Yeah, I bet that's what this is… he wants to test his fighting ability to an older, more experienced fighter.

"Bring it on!" I screamed to him and brought up my own flames. "Tell me how you really feel." I screamed to him and charged for him. If he wanted a fight, I'd fight him. I'd fight him all day long. I'd show him just how much stronger I am. And if he really did beat me…great. I had a strong friend that I could go on adventures with, and not have to worry about watching his back. Heck, I'd even teach him martial arts so that we could spar with our fists and feet too.

He charged back. I started throwing fireballs at him, which he was able to bat away with his own blue flames. He launched a wave of blue fire at me. I was able to reach out and push it away with my orange fire, which was making this a fun game. But we never stopped running towards each other. As we started closing the distance, I thought we'd have to switch to martial arts. Would he be ok with going fist-to-fist with me? I thought he was testing his magicka. Was he so uncomfortable with his training that he felt like he needed to resort to hand-to-hand methods to win? He got close enough that I had to throw a punch at him. He grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. Grappling? Is that how he planned to win? I had no idea what was going on until his lips met mine. My fire died off immediately in the pure shock of it, his followed a second longer. What? When did this become a thing?

He held me there for a few seconds before letting my lips go. Then he just stood there, inches away from me. "I missed you." He said.

I honestly didn't know what to say. But my mouth had a good idea. "Why did you kiss me?" My voice was cracking again, and it was high-pitched too. Was I blushing?

Seth smiled. "I lo…Just welcoming you home." He stammered as he tried to say to me. Did he almost say 'love'? And then he covered it up by saying that he was welcoming me home?

And that was all it took for me to punch him in the shoulder. "You jerk." I pushed him away. "Don't play with my emotions right now." I started thinking of Talvas and how he was ramming Gwen into the wall right now. It made me mad just thinking of it.

He stepped back, rubbing his shoulder. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. It's just...it caught me off guard." I looked back at him. I don't know if that kiss meant anything to him, or if it meant anything to me, but it did make me think of the time we fought in the chicken coop. He kissed me before we went in there, and I felt unsure of myself then too. I almost didn't follow him inside the coop because I didn't know if it would lead somewhere. But this had happened after my romantic adventure with Talvas, so nothing Seth did at the time would have surprised me. "How's Zera?" I attempted to change the subject as my face started blushing over. I tried to look Seth in the eyes, but I kept getting that sparkling stare back at me, and it made me feel dizzy and light-headed.

He nodded. "She misses you too, but not as much as I did." Oh great, my face is burning again. I tried to keep my emotions from translating into exploding flames. I got used to controlling them in the underground bunker that was Mother's old house.

"Ah-huh." I replied. Wait…blue flames? Talvas said those were the flames of love. I looked back at Seth. "Wait, wait, wait. You said those blue flames arrived after I left." He nodded, like he didn't really understand. "Seth…" I walked up to him, grabbing him by the collar, and pulled him closer to me. I saw him flinch as I pulled him closer to me. His hands started shaking like he didn't know what to do with them. I won't lie, I didn't feel too cool right now either. But I had to know. I had to know where we stood. "Are you in love with me?"

He paused for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No…I don't think I am." He looked down, avoiding my eyes like I did with him just seconds before. "Vess…you're scaring me."

I sighed as I released his collar. I knew what I saw, and I knew what those flames were. And he kissed me! It couldn't be coincidence. I shook my head as I looked at him. Who was I kidding? He was 12; I'm 13. If I was able to tell that I'm in love with Talvas, who's to say that he couldn't have feelings for me too? I decided to take a chance. Seth seemed like a good person, and I needed someone right now. We got along great, and I clearly wasn't going to get anywhere with Talvas anytime soon. He was happy with Gwen, and he should be. He acted like an adult, heck he was one by now. Seth was my age, and he was like me. We had fun together, and I bet that would translate into having a nice relationship too. I grabbed Seth by his collar again and pulled him right up to my face. "I will do this on one condition." I said him.

"What?" He looked scared again, and I knew why. Whenever Talvas did this stuff to me during our time underground, I was pretty scared of what it could mean too. Why was I doing this? I didn't really know, but I knew that I wanted to give this a try. I liked Seth, and maybe I liked him more. I really didn't know. I leaned in and after a second so did Seth. Our lips met again and this time it lasted longer. It felt nice, and my heart stopped for a few seconds while they did. It felt warm, like my body was lighting on fire again. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the two of us were covered in blue flames. Blue flames? I was creating blue flames? Was this real then? Just as quickly as the blue flames appeared, they melted down into orange flames again.

When we pulled our lips away, I said, "The one condition is that we don't try to kill each other with blue fire."

He smirked but nodded. "Um…ok. But… what exactly are blue flames? Why was it so important to you?"

I released his collar. "Blue flames are the strongest fire our bodies can produce…and Fire magicka is dependent on our emotions. Love is the strongest emotion…and it only develops when you're feeling love." I shook my head. "And you were directing your emotions at me when you had them. I just knew it meant that your feelings for me were as strong as they could be. And after I kissed you…I noticed they were covering me too." I reached down and took his hand. "Seth. I don't know exactly how I feel for you, but I'd like to get to understand my feelings better. Would you mind if we dated for a while so we can understand this better?"

He stood there for a second before I heard Mr. Vedes screamed from his bedroom window, "Boy! Just say yes already!"

Seth looked up at his dad and then back down to me, rolling his eyes. "Sorry 'bout that. He can be so embarrassing some days." He looked me in the eye for a few seconds. "I don't really understand how I feel about you either, but I _do_ want to find out. So, yeah. I'll be more than glad to be your boyfriend."

Boyfriend. That felt weird for me to hear that word. I'd never had one before, but I guess I was reaching that age where stuff like this was going to happen. And Seth was the first I was going to have. Maybe the last. I don't know. We live in a small town, but who knows what will happen later on. Not to mention, I still feel like there is something watching us. Some invisible force building around us. Solstheim seemed more alive these days, and that Black Book I found was a slow indicator of that. I don't think my life will be getting to normal just yet. But perhaps for a couple days, I can enjoy this.

I pulled Seth with me as I dragged him over to the training circle. "Ok, if we're going to date, then you're learning how to fight!"

"Fight? Why?" He asked as I dragged him with me.

"Because I want someone I can spar with, and it's my favorite thing to do. Not to mention, if Master puts me on a quest to go fight someone nasty, I'd rather have you with me than Talvas. It would be good training for you, and we'd have a lot of fun along the way." Not to mention, I won't end up cheating on you by accident. "So, if you're going to be watching my back, I'd rather you know what you're doing. So, starting today, I'm going to train you myself."

"Vessy!" I heard Zera scream as she ran out of the bath house. She charged right for us, crashing into me, wrapping her arms around my stomach as she cried into my robes. "I missed you so much!"

I hugged her back, screaming, "I missed you too!" And we stood like that for a few minutes. When we finished our hug, I looked down at her. She was wearing her training robes. They were the dark red ones that I really hated. "I was about to train with Seth. Do you want to train with us?"

Her face lit up. "Yeah!" She said as she took a step back. She spread her hands out and I watched as Fire magicka started to run across her arms like tiny flickers. "I'm getting pretty good now. See?" I nodded. Great. I could work with that.

I looked at Seth and then back to Zera. "Ok, you guys. Get into the circle and we'll begin." I looked around for a second before I smiled. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I better get them ready for it. I don't know how long until something new comes by to ruin this for us. I better step up my own training too. I don't want some other Telvanni Lord kidnapping me. Of course, I'm sure that Neloth and Mother were more than capable of handling them, even if I might not be able to. Still, it won't hurt for me to get stronger. Maybe I'll be as strong as that Khajiit I saw in Riften. I wonder if I'd ever meet her again. I'd like to fight her sometime, now that I'm stronger.

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**Cearbhail**:

_Not sure how many butthurt people there are over the shipping of Seth and Veselle. I had to lie when people asked me if they were going to end up as a couple. I wanted it to be a surprise. I mean, she MIGHT date Talvas in the future, but I'm still not entirely sold on them being a couple. I kind of like him being with Gwen. And I kind of like Veselle with Draseth. We'll see. My fingers usually change my mind for me anyway. I never considered Ruby and Maleek as a proper couple either. so...anyway. Have a good Christmas, Winter Solstice (which was last night), or any of the other major and minor holidays you may or may not celebrate.  
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	28. Compatibility

**Cearbhail**:

_I know, I know. I said I wouldn't start this for a week or so, and that I was going to work on my other stories, but I wanted to start off the new arc properly. so... here's the first chapter. I bet you know what I'm planning to do with the next few chapters by the end of this one.  
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__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
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_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is 4e207 9th Sun's Dusk. The past year has been something else, in retrospect. It's been like having a normal life. Gwen got her own house made just a few days after settling in. It's near the bathhouse. Things with her are…interesting. She doesn't really hate me anymore, not since I started dating Seth anyway. She still tries to keep me as far away from Talvas as possible, especially since I'm a little older now. Still, 14 doesn't seem all that impressive when Talvas and she are both 17. Still, Seth is a great person, and I'm actually happy to be with him. Dating him the past year has been impressive. We were new to the whole dating thing, so we took it slow. Now, we're kissing and stuff. I mean, we tried kissing from time to time, but it just seemed rushed. But now it's everyday stuff we do. But still, we did other things: picnics, training sessions, you know… stuff._

_Well, today is another day of training. Mother is going to team up with Father about Compatibility. Compatibility is when two mages sync their souls together to synchronize their energy into one massive force. At least, that's why my book says about it. I can't wait to sync with Seth today. I'll show that the two of us are completely compatible. When I think of it, that kiss we shared that one afternoon, when both our fires turned blue and merged as one…that was a source of Compatibility. If we did it then, we should be able to do it now too._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my diary and stretched out my legs. The past week had been pretty hectic. Father wanted us to start doing research into the Black Books again, and I don't know why. It just hit him one day. That Black Book we've been holding onto this whole time started acting weird, like it was trying to speak to us. Father locked it away, saying that we weren't allowed to go near it. So far, only Mother and he had even attempted to go near it. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I felt uneasy this morning. Something was about to happen. And I didn't like it.

I sighed as I stood up from my bed and stretched my arms. I grabbed my training robes and walked into my bathroom. Sure, we had an entire bathhouse designed for the convenience of being able to bathe in a massive house, but I still liked my privacy. The way Gwen tries to grope me from time to time really keeps me from going in there unless I'm there in a bathing suit and just taking a dip in the hot springs. Gwen keeps telling me I'll start growing as big as her eventually. Gods I hate her. Zera finds it hilarious, but she's still pretty young. 12 years-old…man. I felt so long ago when I was her age, even though it was only two. Heck, when I was 12…the earliest memory I had was being shot in the stomach by a Thalmor and then unleashing a giant Aedric dragon on the town of Riften. And then I moved to Raven Rock a couple months later. Wow… it seems so long ago, but it really wasn't.

I let myself take my shower in silence as I mentally prepared myself for today's trials. It wasn't every day that Mother and Father both train class. Though I do like the way they split us up. Mother took the newer apprentices: Zera, Seth, and myself; while Father was left training: Teldryn, Gwen, Azarien, Brelyna, and Talvas. Those of us who trained with Mother got to wear black and gray robes, which I loved, while those trained by Father had to wear the uglier combinations of red, dark red, and dark yellow. Yuck.

After my shower I put my hakama and my keikogi, which were the basic layers for my uniform. My hakama was black; my keikogi was a really dark gray with black lace borders on the sleeves with blood red Daedric runes in the black lace. I didn't like it when I first started wearing these, but I quickly learned to like it. After those were on, I got to throw on my black sleeveless tunic that flowed down past my knees. It folded in just like my keikogi, but instead of tucking it under my hakama to keep it from moving, I strapped a black belt, which was also had the same red Daedric runes as my keikogi's sleeves in the middle of the belt.

After I got my training robes on, I looked in the mirror as I started putting my hair back into my twintails. My hair had grown longer and it now my twintails reached down to my shoulder blades. Seth liked my hair long, which made me enjoy having my hair reach past my neckline. I looked myself in the mirror for a second, practicing my smile before I heard a knock on my door.

"It's open!" I said as I turned towards the door.

When the door opened, I saw Seth poke his head through. "Good morning, Vess."

I nodded to him. "Good morning, Seth."

"You ready for combat practice?" He said as he walked in.

He glanced at me, rubbing the back of his freshly shaven head. Well, shaven was a lack of a better term. Let's just say he got in a fight with his sister and she burned half of his hair off. Sure, we were able to heal him, but no amount of Heal Beam was going to bring his hair back. And I made fun of his haircut. And that led him to shaving his head because of it, which I made fun of him for, and that in turn made him a little…sensitive about his hair. Right now it was less than a stubble starting to grow back in.

I smiled as I stood up and ran my fingers over his head. It felt so…prickly. It felt nice, so I ran both my hands on his head, which made him cringe. "Your head feels so funny." I said as I started rubbing my face on his head.

"Vess…stop it." He tried to whine, but it didn't get me to stop. When I didn't stop, he pulled my twintails. He pulled hard enough to pull my head down, and we ended up at eye-level. When we got there, we looked at each other for a few seconds before I kissed him. And then he started kissing back. Then we spent a few minutes kissing. Normal morning stuff for us.

We stopped when we heard Zera clear her throat. We broke apart and I looked down at the girl that was just a little shorter than me. She had twintails just like me, but hers reached her knees. She was also the only one of us that had pale pink eyes instead of bright red. Her entire family had dark blue hair, almost like raven. My hair was straight black.

Zera stood there, puffing her cheeks out at me and then at her brother. "Are you two done making out yet? I want to get to practice." I smiled as I nodded to Zera. Zera was an odd thing. She loved me, and even though she loved the idea of me dating her brother, she hated to see us kissing. I don't really understand why she doesn't like it, but one of these days I'll ask her and find out. Every time I do ask her, she just looks away and says she doesn't mind.

I looked at her and then over to Seth. "Well, shall we then?" I asked him as I led him out of my room, closing the door behind me. We started walking over to the training circle that in the past two years…hadn't changed one bit. The village hadn't changed in two years. I was amazed by that. We expanded so quickly, but after all that crap with my Mother trying to kill us… we didn't get any new people to join House Telvanni. If we didn't do something soon, we would end up a small House. We had to do something to bring more people in, but maybe it was best that we were small right now. We only had two Telvanni Lords: Ildari Sarothril and Neloth Maryon. I guess I just had to accept that we needed to get more Lords of House Telvanni before we could start growing bigger. Looking at Seth and thinking about the future…perhaps the two of us could help expand House Telvanni in our own way? I know Gwen's pregnant, supposed to give birth to twins soon. That means two new people. Mother's starting to show signs of her pregnancy as well. And I know my sister Brelyna is having sex with her boyfriend Teldryn. Jeez…everyone's getting some but me. One day… one day.

"You still didn't tell me if you were ready for today." Seth said as he walked beside me.

"I'm ready whenever you want it." I said automatically. I was still thinking about having sex with him when I said it.

Seth nodded. "Great. I'm a little nervous myself."

I scoffed. "You're supposed to be a boy. Aren't you supposed to want stuff like that?"

He shrugged. "You're more into it than I am. You're better at it than me too."

I shook my head. "It will be my first time too."

He paused. "What?" He shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

I stopped and looked at him. "Huh? Um…what do you think we're talking about?" I suggested to him, smiling at the end like I had any idea what he was talking about.

"Combat practice!" He said to me. He squinted his eyes at me. He looked down at Zera, saying, "Zera, cover your ears and hum until I tap your arm." She covered her ears on command and started humming to herself. He looked back up at me, smirking. "I now that glint in your eye. You were thinking about dirty stuff, weren't you?"

I shrugged. "It's not the first time we've talked about it." I said as I continued walking. He and Zera followed behind me.

"True, but like I've been saying … we're only 14. We should take it slow and not do something we will regret." He said as he caught up to me.

"I can buy condoms, so can you." I said to him.

His face blushed over. "Yeah, we could but… you know those are designed to prevent diseases, not pregnancy."

I shrugged. "Ok, so I use Alteration to keep myself from getting pregnant. Not a big deal." I grabbed his hands. "I'm in no rush either, but you can't just use that as an excuse not to."

He sighed and nodded. "Ok, how about… I'm not ready yet."

I nodded. I could respect that. "Ok, great. Let's go back to Zera-friendly topics."

Seth tapped Zera's arm and she stopped humming and uncovered her ears. She looked from me over to Seth. "Can we get a puppy?"

I shrugged. "It would be nice to have a pet dog." _Then why not just summon me?_ I heard Kyuu call through my mind. I looked up into the sky and said, "Because you ate all my apples three days ago." It was enough that both Zera and Seth jumped, even though they should be used to me talking to Kyuu like this by now. Kyuu was my bound ally, the first of three that I had. The other two were Anari and Volana. Volana was resting in my back pouch in a heart stone if I ever needed her, while Anari was happily reading books in her version of a world. Anari didn't like it when I bothered her, but she was always happy to help me if I needed it, while Kyuu wanted out every second of every day.

Seth was the first to realize what was going on. He nodded his head, saying, "Kyuu talking to ya again?" I nodded. "Sounds about right then."

"I wish I had a contract with a spirit." Zera whined as she grabbed my hand. "Will you teach me how to make a contract?"

I shrugged. "Um…it's not like I planned it or anything. It just happened one day."

Seth smirked. "Going at the pace we're heading in… that won't be the last time I hear that phrase." I glared at him for a second, silencing him with my eyes. Not Zera-friendly, Seth. Funny, but not Zera-friendly.

I looked back down at Zera, smiling. "I can summon Kyuu and see if we can get something started."

She smiled and nodded, clapping her hands. "Can we?"

I sighed as I warmed up a ball of Conjuration. I made a link to Kyuu and then let the ball rip open into a portal in front of me. Kyuu, a cat-sized fox spirit with nine tails, jumped out of the portal and into my chest. I quickly wrapped him up in my arms. He was as light and fluffy as the day when I first met him. I was fighting my first Ash Guardian, a monster so powerful that I would have died if Father hadn't come in and saved me, when I first met Kyuu. He begged me to make a contract with him so that he could help me. I gave in and let him bound himself to me, and then he had to teach me how to summon him. I couldn't think of a better teacher for Conjuration than him.

Kyuu looked up at me with his blue beady eyes. "Change your mind, did you?"

I shook my head. "No, but I will give you an apple if you get Zera a bound ally. And not some butterfly useless thing, an actual something useful like you."

Kyuu purred and rubbed his head in my chest. "I would be honored to help my second favorite little mage." He said as he looked at Zera. "Wow… you look more and more like Veselle every day!" He squeaked as he jumped out of my arms and over to her. He plopped his butt down on the ground and looked Zera in the eye. "You're a fire user, right?"

She shrugged. "Fire and Air mostly." She said. With a flick of her wrist, she managed to blow some Air magicka over the ash. "I'm not very strong either."

Kyuu sat there for a second. "I'm guessing a fairy. But…what kind of fairy." He muttered to himself. "Oh!" He said, jumping up to his foot. "I know, I know. A Summer Sprite. They are fire-based and use Air magicka too!" He raced around in a circle. "But which one… there are so many?" He spun himself in a circle before he came to a stop. "No…really?" He chuckled to himself. "Should I invite…her?" He looked around before nodding to himself.

"Who?" I asked Kyuu.

He looked up at me, smiling. "Oh… no one. Just… an old flame of mine." He cleared his throat. "You know…back when I worked with Nrillia." I could see his fur ruffle as he thought of it. He looked up at Zera, smiling at her. "I'll talk to her about it tonight. How's that?"

Zera nodded. "I'm ready."

Kyuu nodded back to her and then over to me. "Can I get my apple now?"

I shrugged. "Fine, even though you didn't do anything yet."

He huffed and looked away, giving me the cold shoulder. "Choosing is half the battle. The other half is getting her to make the contract. And I can't do anything until tonight, when I talk to her. I'm sure she'll agree though. Tatianna has been partner-less since Nrillia."

I watched as Kyuu bounced away. I never knew he has a little girlfriend. I wondered what she was like. Probably just like him, I'm guessing. Hard to tell though. Kyuu's weird, almost as weird as me. Looking at Seth, perhaps she was a confused happy person? I like that thought. And until I meet this spirit, that's exactly how I'm picturing her, just like Seth. Sure would be disappointing to find out she's like Gwen… or Talvas. Especially Talvas.

I looked over at Zera and Seth. "We should probably head to the training circle. Mom and Dad might be getting impatient."

"I know _I_ am." Father said from inside the three training circles. He stared at us with heavy eyes. He had his arms crossed, and he stood there, tapping his right foot in the ash as he stared at us. His students were right behind him, all dressed in their red training uniforms. I locked eyes with Talvas for a second before standing up. He smiled at me, waving for a second before Gwen glared at him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her. She kissed him on the spot. She looked at me, glaring as she pressed herself up against Talvas.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Seth. He put an arm on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze. "Don't let it bother you." I grunted. He knew I used to have a crush on Talvas. After a month of dating him, I felt it was only right he knew that. He offered me a lot of support on the whole… Gwen using Talvas as a weapon against me. It still hurt, seeing him with her, but being with Seth made the whole thing feel a lot better. It's not like I wanted to date Talvas or anything, but it was more the fact that Gwen was purposefully using my old feelings as a way of hurting me. It was the act of hurting me that was causing me to hurt. Just knowing that Gwen hated me so much. I wish I could get her to be nicer to me, but in one year, our relationship hadn't improved much.

I looked up at Mom. She nodded to me. Over the course of the year, it was amazing how much she recovered from her near experience with Ash poisoning. Just last year, her heart stone almost killed her and made her into an Ash construct, like an Ash Spawn. When Father found out where I was being hidden, he came by to free me. During my time at Mother's hidden base, I was able to learn how to reverse the Ash poisoning, and I was able to share the information with Dad. He used the information to free Mom from her heart stone's Ash poisoning. Before she was freed, most of her body was cracked up and useless, kind of like a mummy's body. Ever since we've stopped her poisoning, she's been able to focus her energy on healing her body. So far, she's able to use her arms again, but her legs were still pretty stiff. She tried to walk around, but more than often she's levitating.

"Good morning, Veselle." Mother nodded to me. "Are you ready for today's lesson?"

I looked at Zera and Seth. "I think I am, but…" I waved to them. "Do you think they are able to do this?"

Mother smiled gently as she nodded. "It cannot hurt to try."

Seth nudged me, so I looked back at him. "What as that about?"

I shrugged. "This Compatibility sounds like advanced magicka. _I_ might not be ready for it." I pointed to myself. "Not that I'm saying you're bad at magicka or anything, but it took you a month to figure out how to conjure your first Firebolt spell."

He scoffed at the idea. "Oh, because it's so easy for you.." He muttered, crossing his arms.

Zera walked up and pushed both of us together. "You two shouldn't fight!"

I looked down at her as she looked up at me, frowning. I sighed as I looked back up at Seth. I shrugged. "Sorry."

He looked away. "It's fine. I get whatcha saying."

Mother clapped her hands to draw our attention. "Please pay attention." She joined Father in the training circle, which the rest of us vacated from. There were three circles: one that created a safe training circle for us to use magicka inside; one that kept the weather from bothering us while we trained; and a third one that kept dangerous things like Daedra from coming in. We were shoved into the second circle so that we could watch Mom and Dad safely perform their magicka without risk of killing us all.

Mother and Father both stood near each other. "Today you will learn about Compatibility. Compatibility is a form of magicka that occurs when two souls are in complete sync. Sometimes this manifests as a slow motion combat scene, but that's usually with fighters." I looked at Talvas; he looked back at me. We shared a slow motion scene a year ago when we fought some draugr underneath Raven Rock. I had no idea that was a form of Compatibility. "Of course, these are extreme circumstances and are rare in form. What we are referring to when we bring up the subject of Compatibility is different than becoming in sync with your traveling companion. This is more intimate." She looked at me and then at Seth. "A lot of you have been becoming pretty intimate lately, so Neloth and I decided to hold this class about Compatibility. It's about turning that unified energy into a single stronger energy. Pay attention."

Mother took a deep breath as Ash within the training circle started to spin around her body. Father did the same as lightning started coursing from his arms and fingertips. Mother reached her and out to Dad, and he took her hand. As their hands came closer, I could see an outline growing on their bodies: Mom's was black, Father's was Amber. Their auras seemed to grow stronger as their hands drifted closer. I could feel the buildup as their hands clasped. There was an explosion of energy as the Ash was suddenly electrified. I watched as sparks of electrified Ash circled around the training circle.

"This is Magicka Compatibility." Father stated. "When we combine our magicka with each other, when we become in sync, this is what we can create." He looked around at the glowing particles of Ash. "It can be a beautiful art form, but it can also be deadly." He released Mother's hand and the Ash floated back down into the training circle. "Now, we'd like for you all to try on your free time. We were going to have you practice in front of your peers, but I feel that…" He glanced at me, glaring through my soul. "some of you are more prone to killing your partners due to embarrassment." He glared from me over to Seth and then over to Talvas and Gwen. Jeez… is there a person in this town that doesn't seem to know my issues?

I looked over at Seth. "So… do you feel like trying?"

He nodded. "I don't see why not."

"Veselle, may I speak to you?" Father said as walked over to me. He glanced at Seth for a second. "Alone?"

Seth took the hint and nodded his head. He looked back at me, smiling. "I guess we'll try the Compatibility later then?" I nodded as he walked away.

I looked up at Dad. He didn't look mad or anything, so I wondered what this was about. "What's up?"

"I'm debating something." He rubbed his chin as he looked down at me. "The past two weeks have been troubling. I'm sure you can feel the tension in the island rising." Yeah, I could feel it alright. Gwen was getting more aggressive with pushing me away, and Seth was letting me get closer to him. "As Telvanni mages, it's our responsibility to trust our instincts when it comes to knowing when danger is coming."

I thought about how I was afraid to get too close to Gwen. She might try to publicly humiliate me. "Yeah, I think I get what you're talking about." He was telling me to prepare to fight Gwen.

Father nodded. "That is great to hear, Veselle, because I've struggled with this idea. You might find yourself in danger soon, and I want you to be protected. But… what I'm offering to teach you is above your mental ability. You have no control over your emotions yet; I've seen you switch from orange flames to black flames… then it switches to blue flames and then it turns to frost a second later. And to make it more confusing, it switches to black flames that turn back to blue and then back to orange. It's like you don't have full emotional control over your thoughts."

Emotional control? I was all over that. I go into the training circle and I focus really hard on perfecting my Fire Storm technique. Of course, I start thinking of Gwen and how she is always one step ahead of me, of how she always tells me of all the stuff she does with Talvas. But then I think of Seth and the stuff we did the previous day, and then I start thinking of Talvas and all the stuff we would never do because of all the stuff Gwen does to him, and all the stuff I do with Seth, and that makes me want to train harder. It's not my fault I can't focus these days. Inner circle politics was starting to get to me.

I shrugged as I looked up at Dad. "I'm sorry, but Gwen is doing everything she can to make my life hell."

He rolled his eyes. "She only has power over you if you let her." He said down to me. "Veselle, this island is getting darker, and I want you to be safe. I _know_ something is about to happen, I just know it. And I have a feeling that you will need to know how to use Shock. So…I'm going to teach you."

"Shock?" I asked him. "But Talvas isn't able to use Shock yet."

Father smirked at that. "Like I said to him when I introduced you. You are his underclassman…but I doubted it would take you too long to surpass him. He isn't ready for Shock yet…and to be honest, neither are you. But he's been practicing for a year now… and you're just about to get started. So, here's what I want you to do." He guided me over to the training circle. He placed me in the center and pushed me down into seiza. "Meditate."

"Meditate?" I echoed him.

He nodded. "Meditate."

I waited for him to elaborate but he didn't. He just looked down at me as if waiting to see if I'd get it. "I don't get it. Meditate on what?"

He sat down in seiza in front of me. "Just close your eyes, and breathe."

I shrugged by closed my eyes. Boy…sure was dark under these eyelids. Oh…I could see color. A yellow splotch floating in my eyelid…some green. Oh…waves of colors now! Wow, how come I never did this before? This was a trip. As I continued to sit there, I started seeing faces appearing in the back. They were stretching out through the dark, trying to say something to me. I tried to forget about the faces, so I tried to think of something. I remember waking up under a waterfall after being forced to get drunk. I climbed out of the waterfall and climbed onto Talvas's chest. I snuggled up to him as he wrapped his arm around me and he kept me warm while I drifted off to sleep. My thoughts drifted over to Seth. We were sitting next to each other looking up at the clouds. The clouds were shaped like dragons, which we enjoyed making fun of.

I felt a smack on my head and I snapped my eyes open. Father was resting his hand on my head. "Don't smile like that when you're meditating."

"You're the one that didn't tell me to do anything special." I said back to him. I started to push myself up. "My legs are starting to hurt. I'm done."

Father reached out and pushed me back down. "No! We're not done yet. Your legs will be just fine. I want you to learn Shock, and you won't learn it without relaxing your mind."

"My mind was plenty relaxed!" I replied. "I was thinking about the day I watched clouds with Seth."

"I just want you to focus on breathing." Father closed his eyes. "Focus on breathing. Focus on the magicka flowing in your veins. Focus on keeping your mind still. Focusing on all three will put all three bodies within you in sync. The physical body, the spiritual body, and the mental body. All must be in sync for you to create Shock."

I closed my eyes and tried again. I took a deep breath and focused on how the magicka within me moved around. That in turn helped keep my mind clear of any distractions. I took a few deep breaths and focused on my magicka moving around. I started feeling peaceful. I think I could actually do this!

"Lord Neloth!" I heard Captain Veleth scream as he ran over to us from the road. I exhaled and opened my eyes. Veleth was running towards us, and he looked like he was in a hurry.

Father opened his eyes and then looked at me. "Do not leave, we'll resume this once Captain leaves." He stood up and walked over to him. "What may I help you with, Captain?"

He paused outside the training circle, taking a second to catch his breath. "This is very important, Lord Neloth. I've been told to direct you over to Second Councilor Adril Arano as soon as possible."

Father crossed his arms. "Did he happen to mention what he needs me for?"

Captain Veleth shook his head. "No, sir. He only mentioned that it's urgent." Veleth looked down at me. "He requests that you bring Veselle too."

Father looked down at me, glaring at me. He looked up at Captain Veleth, nodding. "Very well, I will be there at his convenience."

Captain Veleth bowed to us before saying, "I was informed to bring you directly to him."

Father sighed, looking at me. "My apprentice is not appropriately dressed for a meeting with the Second Chancellor… I mean Councilor. Besides, this does not sit right with me." He looked at me. "Veselle, go get a traveling buddy. Grab Zera and Seth. I think this could prove to be a wondrous learning opportunity. And tell Ildari to come out here. I think I will want her by my side."

A travelling buddy? We were going on a quest? I nodded to Dad and ran back to my room. I threw the door open and grabbed my personal staff, the one I always took with me whenever I might end up fighting someone. I checked to make sure I still had my Ash Guardian with me and I turned around. I closed the door behind me and sprinted over to the main tower. Mom was always upstairs tending to her disease. If she wasn't training, she was trying to heal herself.

I opened up the door and screamed as loud as I could. "Mom! Dad wants to see you out by the training circle!"

"What does he want?" She screamed back.

"I don't know, but Captain Veleth says we need to meet with the Second Councilor!"

"Oh, Ok. I'll be done in a few minutes. I just need to put my makeup on." She yelled back down at me.

I ran from the doorway down the staircase leading back to the ground. I dashed as fast as I could over to the Vedes farm. I saw Zera wrestling a pig and called out to her. "Zera! Grab your staff and Seth. We're going on a quest."

"Sweet!" She pumped her fist and charged straight for the house. "Bro! Veselle wants you to grab your staff and meet her outside."

"What? I'm not ready!" He pouted.

"Your _training_ staff, idiot!" Zera pointed out. "We're going on a quest."

"Oh…that's easy." He said as he charged out of the house with his own version of the staff I had. Zera followed right behind him. When he spotted me, he ran over with Zera behind him. "So, what are we doing?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but Master Neloth thinks we might be expecting trouble. Let's go join him and Captain Veleth. We're going to meet the Second Councilor so… it can't be good." The Second Councilor's job was all about security. If he wanted to speak to us, it was because he was afraid of something harming the security of Raven Rock. I just hoped he didn't think it was us.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so if you've played the side quests, you should know what's going to happen. And imagine who's going to be beside Veselle for it.  
_


	29. Second Chancellor

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, everyone. I have the new chapter done. I won't lie... it gets pretty dark. But either way, I can also guarantee that you WILL figure out what I have planned, but at the same time ... you will NOT know even half of what I have planned. I'm sure it's confusing, but at the same time, when it happens, you WILL figure out which parts you weren't supposed to know, and which ones you were supposed to. It's all tied into the plot... the stuff you can't possibly know yet. And...well... you'll see after a few chapters, like five or something. Five really stupid long chapters about one quest. :P yes, you know who you are.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Wow… Just wow. Things have happened today. I thought it was just going to be another day of practicing my Fire, or Air, or Frost, Ash, Earth. One of those elements. The original premise was that Father and Mother were going to increase my instinctual use of all those elements before moving on to new ones. Things took a different turn though. Father and Mother introduced a new type of magicka: Compatibility. It's when two mages combine their magicka together to create a stronger force. I wanted to try this Compatibility out with Seth but Father dragged me away to teach me Shock instead. He thinks I'm not capable of learning it yet, but he seems to think I'll need it soon. I hope he's not right, because that would mean that I will have to use a form of magicka I'm not familiar with… a situation where no other magicka that I know could possibly come in handy. In what way could that be possible? I don't know, but I hope that when that time comes… I know how to use Shock._

_Anyway, we're on our way to Raven Rock now. Second Councilor wants to speak to Father and me. Father brought Mother, and I brought Seth and Zera. We're totally going to do something, I'm sure. Captain Neloth hasn't said what this emergency meeting pertains too, but we have a full escort of Redoran guards. They look stronger than they did last year, and it's not like I've had reason to go to Raven Rock except to buy the occasional set of candles or something. Anyway, we're coming to the bulwark now._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I know it's been a few weeks since I've set foot in Raven Rock, and I know that when living in a small town it's easy to be overwhelmed by the fact that I'm always around the same people. It easy to think that a normal day is being surrounded by the same amount of people. And it's because of this…whenever I step foot into Raven Rock, I expect there to be _a lot_ of people around. So, it's a natural feeling for me to step into this larger town and expect there to more people than I can imagine walking around the marketplace, even though I know that there aren't a lot of people living here. Even so, even though I know this fact ... this town felt like a ghost town today. The marketplace was filled with only guards. I didn't see any open market stall, no miners dragging carts of ebony around. It was eerie.

The Redoran guards stopped escorting us once we came up to the Second Councilor's home. They started forming up around a circle formation around the door to the house. I looked up at Dad. "So… do we just go inside or…?"

He sighed as he looked at Captain Veleth. "I have noticed the excess amount of Redoran guarding the house. May I ask why?"

Captain Veleth looked away from us as he answered. "You will find out inside, Neloth."

Dad grunted. He looked at Mom, who nodded to him like she understood something I was missing. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew it wasn't good. This town seemed to be under a spell, and it felt like it was revolving around us. I didn't like it one bit, but I was afraid to say something. I thought if I brought it up, it would suddenly become real. Like it would know that I knew about it and then take a tangible shape, maybe try to kill me too. I tried to calm my nerves as Dad looked down at me. "Apprentice, do you remember your bracelet I gave you for your birthday?"

I thought about the bracelet on my arm. I remember it alright. He made sure I understood what it was when he gave it to me. _If you ever find yourself in an ambush and need to get away, activate this bracelet. It will teleport you to the College in Winterhold. You will be safe there. Brelyna or myself will come to collect you later._ If he was saying that… did he expect trouble here in Raven Rock? I looked around at the Redoran guards. There were a lot of them, maybe 15. And there were more throughout the town. I didn't doubt that we could fight them if we really needed to, but… why was I thinking this? I knew Captain Veleth! He was a really cool guy! And I knew some of these guards. I saw the red arm bands that identified them as the 'cute girl squad', the squad that looked out for me the days when Mother was trying to kill me. They were pretty cool too. I couldn't just see some of them turning on me now and killing me. Not after all the wonderful times we chatted.

Dad grunted as he turned to the door. He gently pushed it open, ushering me, Seth, and Zera inside before coming in. Mother followed after him, sticking close to the doorway the entire time. There, sitting in a chair, was a tall Dunmer wearing rich robes and a chest plate made of ebony. He sat back in his chair, looking up at us, his eyes glaring and judging. I had a knot forming in my stomach as I suspected that we were on the verge of some war. I remember from my history lessons that the Great Houses were never the greatest of allies, but still worked together unless invading in another House's territory, which our expanding House was beginning to do.

Dad bowed to the Second Councilor. "Second Councilor Adril Arano." He held the bow for a second before saying, "May I inquire as to the reason for your summons?"

Second Councilor nodded as he shifted in his chair. "There are a number of concerns that have been plaguing my mind of late. The very first concern is your House living on this island." Oh crap! I looked around as Dad clenched his fist. His eyes spoke volumes of knowledge that said that he expected this. I hope this didn't lead to some sort of fight. I really didn't want to fight. I looked over at Seth and Zera. They looked just as lost as I did, but Seth seemed eerily calm about this whole situation. Almost like he was following it. Zera looked focused as well. She and Seth both looked like they understood what was going on. Why was I the only one lost here?

Dad looked back at me, nodding his head towards my bracelet. So… it might come to using it after all. I couldn't believe that this was happening. Why now? Seth and Zera didn't have bracelets. What were they going to do if this broke out into a fight? Would they run off on their own, or be captured? Killed? I couldn't just leave them behind. If I grabbed someone, it should take them with me. That would be one way of making sure they got out of here, I guess.

Dad looked back at Second Councilor, nodding his head apologetically. "I understand your trepidation with the strength House Telvanni has acquired, what with our borders stemming so close to each other on this small rock, but I would like to remind you of the promise I gave to House Redoran the moment I settled in Raven Rock."

"You promised to provide any assistance to our town in the hopes of fostering a new alliance between our two Houses." Second Councilor stated, never taking his eyes off of Dad. I felt a small twinge of dark intent surrounding Second Councilor. And there was this…image? I think image was a good word. This sense of something behind him, watching him, directing his actions. "And to thank me for letting you live on this island you bring that…" He looked at Mom, sneering. "witch here. You let her live and grow stronger as she begins producing the massive army that nearly destroyed our two towns a year ago. And worst off, you let her continue to live inside your protected town under House Telvanni rule while under full knowledge that she had committed atrocities against House Redoran."

"With all due respect, Second Councilor, there haven't been any Ash Spawn since I healed Ildari. She was a great help with my experiments involving the heart stones. So much that I have been able to successfully integrate the heart stones into my staves, making our magicka capabilities so much more than they used to be. Soon, I hope that I can use heart stones to help create barriers capable of protecting Raven Rock and Tel Mithryn from future Red Mountain attacks, in case the Ash Spawn ever return."

The Second Councilor nodded to that statement. "Be that as it may, I believe we both know the real reason I've called you in today."

Father nodded. He looked back at Mother, saying, "I do indeed. Ildari and I have wondered when this day would come." What day? What was coming? I looked around the room as I felt a pressure surrounding me, almost pushing me to the floor. The room started to spin and I started to feel a chill over my back. Something was about to happen, and I knew that I couldn't stop it.

Second Councilor snapped his fingers and the door burst open with several guards that formed the perimeter around the doorway stormed into the house. They rushed into the room, grabbing onto Mother's arms, and locking them behind her back with slave cuffs. I was standing too close to her at the time and one of the guards actually shoved me to the floor, kicking me away from Mother as they started locking the cuffs down onto her. "Get back, girl!" He screamed at me as he kicked me back, slamming his boot in my face as he did so.

"Mom!" I screamed as I pushed myself away from the thunderous Redoran guards. I didn't really know what was happening, but the Redoran were attacking my mom! Flames erupted from my body as I struggled to get up. Fear of what they would do to her, and fear of what they would do to me fueled my flames as they spread out across my body. Several guards rushed to unsheathe their swords as they turned to face me. Some in the back started to pull out their bows and arrows, which only made my fear increase the size and strength of my flames. Seth and Zera were right beside me, their flames pouring out of them as well. I glanced at them as I realized that… we were going to die!

"Sir!" One of the guards screamed. "The children are exhibiting malevolent intent!"

"Veselle!" Dad roared at me, shooting me with Shock. It hit me so hard that I flew into the wall behind me. I wasn't the only one hit either. Zera and Seth joined me against the wall. Both of them looked as dazed as I felt. The room spun around me for a few seconds and I found my eyes blurrily glancing around. There was this… dark shadow in the room. It stood in the center, just hovering there. Dark tentacles seemed to stretch out, reaching into the Redoran that gathered in the room. I was so out of it that I actually thought the creature was reaching out for me, Zera, and Seth. They had the dark shadows too, but I didn't seem to have it. Neither did Father or Mother. Everyone else seemed to have a dark aura covering them.

I shook the Shock off and my vision cleared up. The image of the dark floating monster vanished, and so did the images of the black auras. I was left lying paralyzed against the wall as the Redoran returned to forcing my mother to the ground as they bound her up like a New Life Festival present. Second Councilor looked down at me. "Young lady, another outburst like that and you will find yourself in prison along with your mother."

Dad turned to face him. "Second Councilor, I assure you that Veselle was only surprised, maybe scared of what just happened. It was not in any way, shape, or form a malevolent act. House Telvanni, of course, will continue to aid and support you. But I must beg you to release Ildari back into my care."

Second Councilor narrowed his eyes, leaning closer to him as he did so. "And why should I release this _murderer_ to _you_?"

Father cleared his throat. "Ildari's treatment is ongoing. Without me to look after her, I cannot begin to imagine if she will come to a full recovery. If something goes wrong and she ends up slipping back to her old mindset, I cannot begin to fathom what she will do to this town, or the world."

Second Councilor looked from Dad over to Captain Neloth, who held my mother's head down onto the floorboard. "And do you, Captain Veleth, agree with Lord Neloth based on his conclusion? Or would you recommend a more…permanent solution?"

Veleth considered it for a second, almost like he was fighting something inside him to do it. "I would…" He closed his eyes, squinting hard as he struggled with whatever battle was going on inside him. "I would ex…execute…" he groaned the word out. "execute the witch now so that we could be spared such an event."

Second Councilor nodded his head like he expected the answer. He looked up at Dad, saying, "You heard him. Why should we release a murderer to a rival House Lord when we can simply do what we plan to do anyway? She attacked _our_ people, she must be tried by _our_ laws."

"She also attacked _my_ House, for which I am the only presiding Lord!" Dad almost screamed as diplomatically as he could. "She is under _my_ jurisdiction as such that she is a member of House Telvanni. You might not recognize it, but you have just assaulted a Telvanni Lord, an offense often viewed up by the Great Houses as a declaration of war, Second Councilor."

"A declaration of war?" Second Councilor started to stand from his chair. "This woman murdered my people! If you claim that she is a member of House Telvanni, then it could be stated that House Telvanni has already committed war against House Redoran!"

Dad held his ground fairly well. "I assure you, it was not an act of war. But she did those acts after joining House Telvanni as my apprentice. She is my responsibility, and I will see to her punishment as I see fit. If you wish to punish someone, you must punish her presiding Master, which is me, Master Neloth." Dad said, lifting his chin as he walked up to Second Councilor. "The rules are quite clear in this manner. You cannot punish the apprentice if the master takes blame for the actions given. I failed to prepare my student and it cost my student her sanity. Her momentary lapse of insight and control led to the death of many of House Redoran, an action that was only committed due to my negligence in preparing said student for the effects of the heart stone's power. If there is any blame, it would be in me, not Ildari Sarothril."

I could see Second Councilor sneer as he glared at my father. He finally pounded his hand into the wall, screaming, "Dammit!" He looked from Dad, over to Mom, and then over to me. "Your claim is valid! For there to be retribution, we would have to take it out on you, not the woman that killed innocents. And for us to do that would be dishonorable for the fact that you've upheld our laws splendidly, and were a great help during our times of hardship. And if we ignored your request for transfer of punishment, it would only lead to a war against your House, for which we would not survive. There has to be some form of retribution!"

Dad nodded. "And on that, I agree. So, why don't you get to the real reason you summoned us here."

Second Councilor composed himself, walked over to his little chair, and sat himself back down as posed as a Thalmor at a dinner party. "What makes you think I had other motives for bringing you down here for?"

"You invited my daughter as well." Dad responded. "While I thought you might have invited her down here to be used as leverage for me to sit down and allow you to take advantage of our family, but I do not believe House Redoran is one for petty kidnapping and extortion. That trait belongs to House Dres and House Hlaalu, not the honorable warrior class of Redoran."

"You make a fair point." Second Councilor responded, almost chuckling at the compliment. Man, my dad was pretty good at this. He managed to stay calm most of this entire conversation, never blinking or moving out of his spot as everything around him became chaotic. In fact, the only time he moved was when he shot Shock at me. And I knew why he did it too. He did it to keep me from exploding and getting myself into trouble. He drained all my active magicka away and paralyzed me so that I couldn't make any sudden moves. And that included Seth and Zera too. He was on his own right now, and he wasn't giving an inch to the Second Councilor.

"Sir, what shall we do about this witch?" Captain Veleth asked as he continued to push her face into the floorboard.

"We have yet to reach a conclusion on that." Councilor responded, never taking his eyes off of Dad. "You are right, there was another reason I summoned you. Well, your daughter. You, Master Neloth, have been an excellent ally. You've helped this town enough times that I would offer you a membership to our House if you weren't so hell-bent on bringing your own doomed House back from the ashes." The councilor stood up from his chair and started pacing around. "Your daughter has proven her own worth to this town, and I have decided that your fate, as well as the witch's, will reside on the success of your daughter's mission."

"What?" I tried to scream but my vocal cords were still pretty shot. It came out as more of a gurgle and saliva pouring into my lap, which disgusted me with every second it continued.

Father looked back at me and then over to the councilor. "And what justification did you use to come to that conclusion?"

The Second Councilor smirked. "It's simple, really. You are right in the fact that I cannot hurt your student: Ildari Sarothril. Nor am I able to touch you because of your actions in our town. Retribution must come from somewhere, and we do have a debt system that Morrowind is quite fond of. I expected you to pull Ildari out of the hole by sacrificing yourself, and for which I cannot harm either of you without either coming to war with House Telvanni or punishing our greatest ally… both of which would be dishonorable or simply foolish. But the family debt has always existed for such events as this. Your daughter will take your guilt for you, and she will serve me as penance for your crimes. Your daughter needs to prove her loyalty to House Redoran. She seems like an honest soul, and I know she always does what is right. So…" He looked at me.

I felt him glaring through me as he started at me, then Seth, and then Zera. When he finished looking at us, he smirked and turned to face Captain Veleth.

"I will make you a deal." He spoke to me while keeping his back turned away from me. "In this town…someone is trying to murder Councilor Morvayn, the Head of House Redoran here in Raven Rock. I do not know who is behind this assassination, but I do know why." He turned around, looking down at me as I drooled on myself. Hey! It's not like I wanted to drool or anything, but when I tried to open my mouth earlier to say something to Dad, I couldn't get my mouth to shut. Isn't that always my problem? Can't keep my big mouth shut? "When you recover from your drool fest, talk to Captain Veleth. He will brief you on your assignment. You have 24 hours to find out who is trying to kill Councilor Morvayn. If you fail, I will kill both your parents. Understand?"

I tried to nod but I didn't get anywhere with it.

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**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, I lied. Maybe not five chapter. Maybe seven or eight. Not sure.  
_


	30. Here in his shrine

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok guys. I did not really intend on this happening, but once again my famous fingers have decided to stray my path. But...I corrected it enough that it has a nice flow. And I think it works nicely with what I wanted. It will definitely move this story in the direction I've been wanting it to go towards. so... yay. Anyway, this story is about to speed up pretty quickly.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Diary of shadows,_

_Umm… what do say? I guess I'll start with what I know. My mother is now a prisoner of Rouse Redoran. So is my dad apparently. All because of what Mom did while she was crazy. And now it's up to me to save both of their lives, since Morrowind has some sort of law that forces children to take up their parent's failures, or something like that. First thing I have to do is meet with Captain Veleth and see what I need to do. What I do know is that someone is trying to kill Councilor Morvayn and I have 24 hours to find the killer. Shab… that's not easy. Oh well, guess I better get started._

_Veselle Tenvanni_

_…_

Do you know how long it took me to break out of my spasm? Let me tell you. By the time I was able to stand up, as well as my friends, the sun was close to setting. In fact, the sunset was just about upon us. I'd wager another few minutes and the sun would have gone completely down. And that means I have to look for a killer in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping. Figures.

Raven Rock changed a lot while I was gone. It just seemed darker somehow. And there's this constant feeling that someone is out to get me. The market place seemed pretty empty too, so that was something else too. Can't say I've really stepped into the town since I came here with Talvas, and when I did I was in and out with new supplies. No reason to really be here, I guess. Not like I had any real friends here. But still, people here liked me. Seeing the people in town lock their eyes onto me as I walked through the downtown market place scared me. All conversation dried up and they just… watched me. It was like being in a nightmare where everyone it out to kill you. That's exactly what it felt like. Everyone watching me was waiting for something before they attacked me. Of course, I knew I was just being paranoid. There was no way these nice people would try to kill me. I'm just too cute.

Redoran guards paced around the town, muttering to themselves in the way I'd expect from someone berating themselves for losing their house keys in the ash or something.

One of the guards walked over to me, almost as if in a trance. "He grows ever near to us." He muttered to me, standing in front of me, looking down at me through his bug-created helmet with the small narrow visor. "Our eyes were once blinded…now through him do we see… Our hands were once idle… now through them does he speak…"

"What?" I asked the guard as he started to walk past me.

I watched as he and the other villagers dropped what they were doing and started heading towards the coast. The villagers all started looking like they were in a trance too. "_And when the world shall listen…"_ Everyone around me started to speak in one massive monotone voice. I almost jumped as Zera and Seth started speaking the same line as everyone else. "_And when the world shall see…_" I watched as Zera and Seth both turned around and started walking over to the other villagers. What the heck was going on? I had no idea, but it was scaring the crap out of me. "_And when the world remembers…_" I heard Seth and Zera whisper as I ran up to them.

"Seth!" I said as I grabbed onto his shoulders, spinning him to look at me. His eyes were glazed over, much like what I remember seeing in Riften when someone took some skooma. It forced me to let go of him, but I quickly grabbed him again. "Seth! Snap out of it! What's going on?"

Seth and Zera turned to look at me. And they said, "_That world shall cease to be…"_

Seth snapped his hand out and blasted me back with a fireball strong enough to toss me halfway across the market place. I hadn't prepared for it and by the time I hit the ground, let alone roll up onto my feet, Seth was already on his way over to some giant glowing stone on the outskirts of town. What the heck was going on? I didn't know, but I had to find out. I stood up and quickly jogged to catch up to Seth and Zera. They acted like I wasn't even there.

"Hey, Seth…" I waved my hand in front of him. "Yo!" I snapped my fingers. He just ignored me.

"Here is his shrine…" Seth said as he shouldered past me, Zera right next to him.

"That we have forgotten…" Zera said in the same monotone voice.

I stopped as they silently marched away from me and over to the giant glowing stone. I looked at the stone to see that everyone I knew was starting to gather ebony and stuff. It looked like they were going to build something. The stone itself was glowing with a magicka pulse that I hadn't detected before. I had notice the thing before, and Dad once brought me here to meditate next to the thing, but it never did anything unusual. Honestly, I thought it was just a giant rock. And now…the giant rock was doing stuff.

I sighed as I walked up to the thing. People walked around like they didn't even see me. They started setting up boards of wood, hammering the planks into some sort of walkway or something. I don't know, I'm not a builder. I'm barely a farmer. But what I am is a Telvanni mage. And this is magicka control, I'm half certain of it. Too bad Dad wasn't here watching this. He'd probably be all over this thing with his attentive eyes. Mom too. She'd probably know what was going on here better than anyone else. Too bad they were currently locked up in the bulwark. I was on my own for this.

I walked up to the pillar and closed my eyes. I folded my legs underneath me as I sat down in seiza. I took a few deep breaths as I focused my mind on the giant rock. I could feel the silent pulses of energy. It felt familiar…like I'd felt it before. The pulse of energy made me feel tense, like someone was behind me with a knife and I knew it. An image of something with long tentacles formed in my mind, wrapped around the stone and grabbing people's heads. The thing brought the people here to work for it. As I pushed harder on my image, it started to change. It wasn't some sort of monster, but a man. He was tall, strong, and had a mask in the form of some type of squid. As soon as I saw him standing over the statue, he looked down at me. "_Here is my shrine."_ His voice pulsed down at me. "_That you have forgotten. Here do you toil, so that you may remember. By night you reclaim what by day was stolen far from yourselves._" His form reached down for me and I tried to move, but my astral body was frozen in its place. The massive giant wrapped his fingers around me and picked me up, bringing me up to his eyes. "_I grow ever near to you. Your eyes were once blinded, now through me do you see. Your hands were once idle, but through them do I speak. And when the world shall listen, and when the world shall see, and when the world remembers…." _He squeezed me hard and my astral body exploded.

I jumped up from my seated position, falling forward and spitting up blood. Everyone had stopped working to look at me. Their glazed over eyes addressed me as they spoke as one. "_That world shall cease to be._" And that sent shivers down my spine.

I tried to pick myself up and defend myself, but I didn't need to. The workers ignored me further and just went back to work. I watched as Seth and Zera started gathering up a pile of heart stones. They went over to the rocks and ebony and started weaving magicka I'd never seen before. The metal started to change and morph into a twisted looking construct with Daedric runes built into it. This was insane. I couldn't do anything like that, and I was the genius of the new students.

I shook my head and pushed myself up on my feet. I had to tell Dad and Mom. We couldn't ignore this. I picked myself up and ran from the giant glowing rock. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone would try to catch me, but they didn't even look in my direction. This was so weird. As I ran away from the rock, I started to remember when I felt that presence. I forgot a lot of things, but one thing I never quite forgot was how scared I felt when I was doing that one quest with Talvas. He had ignored my whining at the time, unable to feel what I felt. But when we found the Black Book, I'd known that the book was the cause of that evil feeling. It was also the same time I met my spirit Anari.

I came to a stop as I had a sudden realization. Anari! She would know what was going on. So, I turned around and brought a portal ball to my hand. "Anari!" I screamed and threw the orb to the ground. "I choose you!" The orb slammed into the ground and ripped open into a portal big enough for my bound spirit to come rolling out.

Anari was an interesting spirit. She's like this giant floating gasbag of knowledge. She has a squid-like face with tentacles that flow down her entire face like she has her own squid beard. She had arms longer than the rest of her body, both bony as heck. She also had two beady eyes that always looked bored somehow. But she had this heavenly soft voice and a love for knowledge. She loved to read books with me during the full moon. And that's Anari. Just a nice bookworm.

When Anari jumped out of her portal, she looked over at me, sighing. "Veselle, may I remind you that I do not like being compared to a pocket monster?"

I nodded. "Noted." I pointed to the giant rock. "What the heck is going on over there?"

She looked from me over to the obviously enslaved workers. "_That we have forgotten…_" They said for maybe the tenth time since I've been standing here.

Anari looked over at me. "It has begun." She announced.

"What has begun?"

Anari turned around and brought her fists up. Before I knew it, I was thrown off my feet as Anari started throwing wave after wave of Shock magicka at me. All my magicka vanished as she slammed with me over and over again with her version of Shock magicka. My arms spasmed as she launched another wave at me. I screamed for help from anybody, but when I managed to look up, the workers were ignoring me like I wasn't even there.

"I'm coming Veselle!" I heard Kyuu call as he charged up to me. Anari turned her attention off me to fight Kyuu. She held one hand over me and with a snap of her fingers another wave of Shock roared over my body, making me spasm. I think I vomited too, but I couldn't really tell.

Kyuu changed into his bigger version. "I should have guessed you'd turn against us one day!" Big Kyuu growled as he jumped through the air. Right before he made connection to Anari, she just vanished into thin air.

Kyuu landed right on top of me, well not on top of me. More like over top of me. He held a guarded position while standing over me, growing as he looked around for Anari. His nine tails flicked nervously around while blue flames poured through them. He was ready for a fight.

"I am merely doing as ordered by my Master." Anari announced. She appeared over top of us, floating in the sky.

"Kyuu!" I screamed and tried to move my arms, but they were pretty useless. By the time he looked up it was too late. A wave of Shock fell down on top of us.

Kyuu was my first spirit, and he was there when we fought an Ash Guardian. That was our first fight together. Ever since then, Kyuu has been my partner when it came to fights. Anari was more a spirit I read books with, not fight alongside. So, when Anari launched a wave of Shock at us, I was not surprised when Kyuu brought up a Shield over us. The Shield took the wave of Shock and dispersed it. "You can't beat me with such lame attacks!" Kyuu growled. "But I will beat you." With a deep bark from Kyuu, a large white/light blue circle formed around us. "Heal Beam!" There was a large flash of white energy that embraced us.

Life flew into my limbs and I felt good as new. I whipped myself up and climbed out from underneath Kyuu. "Thanks, Kyuu." I said to him as I reached for my training staff. "Let's take her down."

Anari vanished again into thin air. I looked around with my staff. "Kyuu, I'm setting up a protection circle. Ok?"

"No." He said, looking back at me. "She'll just wait and hide until you get bored."

"Not if I cut my bond with her." I replied back. "She won't be able to feed off my energy."

He smirked. "I like you plan. Cut her bond, and then we'll kill her."

I sighed as I dismissed Anari's summon. There was a snap like a tiny cord connecting me to Anari and I felt her cry out in alarm. Just as soon as I did that, I felt her appear behind me. She wrapped me up in her arms. "You're coming with me." She said. And as soon as she did that, I felt a portal open up around me.

Kyuu snapped around. "Veselle!" He cried before I disappeared into the portal.

The ride to Oblivion was not a fun one. It was like I was being dragged down a murky pool into a place without air. As soon as the portal around us opened up, I felt like I could breathe again. I was about to fry Anari before I felt another jolt of Shock pass through my body. She ran it through me long enough to knock me out. My body pretty much fell lifeless in her arms. When she was done, she dropped me on the floor. "My Master will wish to speak with you." She said as she floated away.

I was totally unable to move. My brain was still trying to figure out how to send electrical signals to my muscles. At least I could breathe. That was a plus. And I was lying on my stomach. If I vomited, it would just come pouring out, not gathering in my mouth like it did earlier.

I looked around as best I could. I remembered being here once before. I was on some sort of mesh webbing that looked like a spider web. Directly underneath me was some sort of bubbling pool of tar acid, or something like that. Above me was a large purple skyline with books flying around everywhere. Any other day of the year, I'd love to be here and read these books. I doubt I was here for a social visit though.

Right as I started getting feeling in my body I felt a tentacle wrap around my legs. I sighed as I was suddenly lifted off the ground while these black tentacles wrapped around my legs and arms. I hovered there in the sky while a black mass of bubbling eyes and tar formed in front of me. "Welcome to Apocrypha." A deep shadowy voice whispered to me as the tentacles continued to climb over my arms and legs, constricting me lightly.

"You again…" I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Can I go home yet?"

"And what makes you think you may go home at all?" He announced. "You are in my realm, little one. You play by my rules."

He had me there. It wasn't like I could do anything at all. I could summon Kyuu, but what good would that do? Could he even fight something like this? I had to find out why I was even here. "Ok, whoever you are. You obviously want something from me. What is it?"

A tentacle started wrapping lightly over my neck, slithering up to my mouth. "You speak to me in such an insolent tone again, and you'll choke on my arm." He whispered to me as his bulgy eyes all focused on me, narrowing to slits. "You will speak when asked to, understood?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I understand." Jeez…these stupid Daedric gods and their stupid rules. I hate Daedric Lords.

"Good." He replied. "People who come to my realm only come when they wish to know something. They are only able to leave when they exchange my knowledge for something they have. What is it you wish to know, and what are you willing to give for the knowledge of which you seek? Do you wish to know your fate? Do you wish to know what the flow of the universe has decided for you? To foresee your reason for existing?"

"No, not really." I shook my head. "I just want to go home."

"Perhaps you wish to know something else then?" He mused as his tentacle danced on face, slapping me in the cheek. "Perhaps a question of love? Do you wish to know if the boy will ever love you? How you could win him over?" I couldn't help but feel intrigued. Making Talvas fall in love with me? That sounded interesting. The mass of eyes widened at my thought. "I see I now have your attention." He resounded through the whole room. "Would you wish to know how to make the boy Talvas fall in love with you? To make him give up Gwen and come running to you, to take you as you are? To become one with you?"

I swallowed as I thought about that. Talvas taking me back to his room and doing to me what he does to Gwen. It was a hard image to fight. "And what would I have to give up for that knowledge?" I found myself asking him.

He seemed eager to push up to me. "I only ask a favor, little plaything. When you get back to Mundus…you must tell your precious Master Neloth…Miraak is coming. Tell your Master that he must speak to the Skald Village to the north. Their shaman will know what it means. Everything. Understand? And for this favor, I will tell you how to make the boy elf Talvas wrap you up in his arms forever. The secret knowledge of the boy's heart. The one thing that Gwen can never do that will force him to treat you as an equal…to love you as you love him."

I nodded. "I understand what you're trying to say." I paused. "But that's not what I want to know." I did want to know how to make Talvas grab me and treat me like he treated Gwen, but it wasn't that important to me. I have Seth, and I'm more than happy to have him do the same things to me when he's ready. There was something more important right now, and I needed to know what I could do to help my mother.

The eyes widened. "Oh, then what is it you wish to know? What are you seeking to know to sign yourself over to me… to my favor?" He whispered as he floated up to me. Tentacles started pulling on my twintails.

"I want to know who is trying to kill Councilor Morvayn." I said to him. There, my quest would be done after this. I could go back to Councilor Adril and tell him what I knew and that would be the end of all that. "And I want to know how to prove it." The tentacles started to loosen from me. "Answer this for me and I will tell my Master everything you have told me to say."

I looked down at Anari. She pretended to be reading a book, only looking up at me on occasion as if to see if I was still in the library. I cannot believe she brought me here. I know she was only doing what her Lord told her to do, but to attack me like that. That was unforgiveable to me. As far as I am concerned, I'm done with Anari.

"Councilor Morvayn has been targeted by the survivors of House Ulen. Morvayn personally ordered the deaths of their ancestor and they are seeking revenge for what he has done to them. But you wish to know more…and I will give you more. The Ulen family has a tomb in Raven Rock. If you travel to this tomb and wait, you will find someone leaving an offering to the family. This is the clue you need. The person leaving an offering is part of the Ulen family. Follow up from that. You have all you need. Now go…and give your Master my message as soon as he is free from his shackles."

I felt a portal wrap around me and I held my breath as I was suddenly trapped inside a bubble of magicka. I felt that pull of murky energy as I was pulled through dimensions again. There was a flash of light and I was suddenly floating several feet above the ground. I had just enough time to scream as I feel straight down into a pile of ash, which created a small explosion of ash all around me as I landed.

"Veselle!" Kyuu called as he ran up to me. He was back in his tiny form. "I was almost out of magicka. How did you escape?"

I looked up from my pile of dust. The sun was starting to rise over the eastern side of the sea. Rising? Last I checked, the sun was setting. I sat up, brushing ash off my robes. I looked up at Kyuu. "How long was I gone?"

"12 hours." Kyuu said. "Veselle, it's 07:32 currently. You vanished somewhere around 18:43."

I shook my head. "Not good, not good. I only less than 12 hours to find the killer and prove their guilt before Councilor Morvayn kills my mother."

I looked over at the giant stone. It was no longer glowing with strange magicka. There was no one around it but Seth and Zera. They were passed out in the ash. I stood myself up and ran over to them. "Seth!" I screamed as I ran over to him. When I was over top of him, I kneeled down and gave his shoulder a good shake. "Seth! Wake up!"

He shifted and his eyes opened. "Vess?" He asked groggily. He groaned as he reached up at his head. "What happened last night? I feel like someone got inside me and gave me a good test ride."

"Things got pretty scary last night. Some spirit controlled you and made you work on building this…" I motioned to the massive structure of ebony and heart stone pillars surrounding the massive rock. "thing." I shrugged. Heck, I didn't know what to call it.

He looked up at the rock. "Odd…I can remember it… but like it was a dream, ya know?" He looked at me. "And you were trying to wake me up. I remember that." He grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. Next thing I knew we were making out in the ash for a few minutes. When we were finally done, he nodded his thanks to me. "Thanks, Vess. You…well…I don't know what you did, but thanks." He was on top of me by now and I thought that we might go somewhere new with this, but he groaned as he started to push himself up onto his feet. He reached down to help me up. "Did you by any chance find out who the killer is?"

I shook my head. "No. I was being held captive by a Daedric Lord. But…he did tell me where to find the traitor. I have to go find the Ulen Family Tomb."

He smirked. "Oh, I know where that is." He looked away from me over to the still sleeping Zera. I bent down and nudged her awake. "Zera. Come on, time to wake up."

She groaned as she stood up. "0100101001010011." She said automatically. Then she shook her head. "Wait…what?" She tilted her head to the side. "What did I just say?"

Seth shrugged. "No idea, I don't speak binary." He looked at me. "Did you understand her?"

I shook my head. "Nope, not a clue." That was trippy. I wonder what she said. Too bad I don't know anything about binary though. I looked up at Seth and then down to Zera. "Ok, let's go to this Ulen Tomb."

Zera smiled. "Oh, I know where that is. Our great uncle was buried there." Wait… what?

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, for anyone that knows binary, please let me know what I said. I'm curious if it actually means anything, or if I just threw out a string of numbers. It would be pretty funny to hear "You said 'Bunny hop bacon" or something like that. Anyway, have a nice day.  
_


	31. Ulen Tomb Surprise!

**Cearbhail**:

_A new chapter. It's been a while, but that's because I was busy getting used to being in class again. Last semester. Can't wait. Oh, and I will be pretty busy with Chronicles of Ruby for a while. And closing out the Rogue Shadowscale. Can't wait for that. Hopefully I will be able to focus on the other stories, but those two might become my priority for a while. If you have any suggestions, just ask. Oh, and one more thing. Ruby will be making an appearance soon in this arc. Not for long, and it will be before she gets her curse, but she will be making an appearance. Just check the journal entry to figure out why. And Veselle will be making an appearance in the Chronicles of Ruby shortly. You'll see why.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 10th of Sun's Dusk, 4e 207. Things have started becoming… scary is the best word I can use to describe my situation right now. The entire town of Raven Rock has seemingly turned against my family, locking up my mother and father for crimes that they kind of committed but not really. I was told by the Second Councilor that I have 24 hours to find some potential murderer or my family dies. 12 hours have already ticked by thanks to some violent tentacle monster lord and my once-loyal spirit Anari. My friends even turned against me for a short while when some evil person took over their minds. They were forced to make some sort of ebony structure surrounding a giant rock. It's weird, but the rock seems to vibrate something. I wish we had someone here that knows something about rocks and vibrations. I'd have them look at the rock and tell me what the heck is going on with it._

_So, the only person I can trust right now is my spirit Kyuu, and my Ash Guardian Volana. With how quickly my friends seem to lose their minds to whatever is going on around here, I can't fully trust them. Well, that and it appears that my friends might be related to the potential murderer running around this town. Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention that. My little visit with the tentacle monster was actually some sort of Daedra Lord of knowledge and stuff. I got him to tell me how to find out who the criminal was and how to prove it. It's the Ulen family, and I'll find the criminal at the Ulen Tomb. In exchange for this information, I just have to tell Master Neloth that he needs to speak to the shaman up in some village to the north. Not so hard I think. It was worth the information. When I mentioned it to Zera and Seth, they reacted by telling me that they know where the tomb is. They are actually related to this person. And that might be a problem. If they are related to the murderer, will they still help me or side with their relatives? I hope they will side with me. After all, one of them is my boyfriend; he better side with me. At any rate, I need to get moving. The sooner I find this murderer, the sooner I get back home._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

…

The Ulen Tomb was a scary place. To be honest, I didn't get to see a lot of stuff pertaining to my culture. Things like making our buildings round to disrupt ash storms passed over my head. I had no idea why they were like that when I first moved here. And to find out that we eat some of the most disgusting foods ever known because we can't seem to figure out how to use magicka to grow anything other than giant-ass mushrooms. And then there was the whole thing about using Ash, an element only used by the Dunmer. So much stuff about ash that I'm so sick of it. And to find out that… we bury our dead in ash… makes me just so sick. And disgusted. Mostly sick. But here's the sickening part.

"Wait, wait… wait." I held my hands up to Zera and Seth. The room was filled with several giant piles of ash filled with bones and skulls. "Are you telling me that… this giant pile of ash I just fell face-forward into… are the ashes of hundreds of dead Ulens?"

Seth nodded. "Yeah… we cremate our dead and add them to the family ash."

Oh gods… and I had my mouth open when I tripped on my staff. I felt vomit coming up and I looked around for the nearest urn for me to vomit into. Reaching for one such urn, I opened it up and hurled inside of it.

"Vess…" Seth reached out for me but stopped as I hurled into the urn. "That was my great-grandmother." He said with a heavy sigh.

I looked down into the urn. It was a brown slushy mess now. It didn't even look like ashes. I shrugged and put the lid back onto the urn. I gently put the urn on the ground and looked up at Seth. "Sorry about that."

He only sighed and shrugged. "It's ok, I guess. It's not like she's still wearing those ashes, or looking down at us right now cursing us out because we puked on her."

"Like Oblivion I'm not!" I heard a scream above me. It was enough to make the three of us jump as we all looked up. There, floating in mid-air was an elderly spectral woman with long white hair and flowing robes. She stood there with arms wide out. I could see a giant chunky mess covering her and it dripped down into invisible ectoplasm. She ran her hand over her face, wiping off any and all ectoplasm vomit. "That was very rude." She stated to me as she turned to face me.

I bowed to her. "I'm so very sorry, miss. I thought the urn was empty."

"You know I have to stay like this the rest of my afterlife, right?" She said as she gestured to her appearance. "You try explaining this to your future husband one day!" She shook her head as she looked up at the sky. "I will get you back for this… but it's time for bingo. Everyone ready?"

Just like that several hundred specters all rose from the giant piles of ash. "Bingo?" One of the older ghosts stated as he pushed himself out of the giant pile of ash. "I love that dog!"

"Not the dog, you old coot!" A six year-old with a missing arm said as he floated up beside him. "The game bingo."

The old man pinched his cheeks. "Ah, you're still so cute…"

The boy knocked the pinch away with his free hand. "Don't forget, I'm 1,000 years older than you!"

"Please tell me this is not my fate someday." I said as I looked over at Seth.

Seth shrugged. "Well… it's not like they just sit in these ashes all afterlife long. They do go and do stuff. Kinda like right now."

"I don't get to move onto some afterlife like Aetherius or something?" I looked around at the ghosts as they started setting up tables around the giant room. They were setting up tables for card games like poker, while more tables were being set up for bingo. "What if I make a friend that isn't a Dunmer and I want to hang out one day. Am I able to do that?"

He nodded. "Oh, of course." He said, clasping a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. They're just visiting from Aetherius. Yeah, we have our own little after life."

"If you say it involves ash… I will slap you." I warned him.

The old man with the long beard looked over at me. "How'd you know?" He said with a whimsical smile. "We spend our afterlife forever swimming the Ocean of Ash. If you let up for even a second, you will drown in ash forever." He said with a growl.

Well… that was disappointing. I threw my arms up, screaming. "Why couldn't have I been born as an Altmer?!"

"Because we're awesome!" All the ghosts screamed at me.

The small armless boy rolled his eyes at me. "Don't listen to the old man. We don't spend our afterlife swimming in ash. Sure, we have a field of ash, but that's only one half of our afterlife. We have a nice field of grass that we also live in. Not to mention the portals that lead to the other afterlives, like the Grasslands of the Pride."

"The what?" I looked at the boy.

He shrugged. "It's where the Khajiits go when they die. Argonians go to the Swamplands. Altmer go to…well… it has a lot of names; we just call it the Tea Party. They just sit there and drink their tea all day long."

"Sounds boring." I replied. All the Dunmer ghosts nodded.

"Like we said, we're awesome." The boy responded and went back to his card games. He snapped his head up at the sound of the tomb's door opening. "Descendant approaching." He said with a whisper and just like that, all the ghosts were gone.

I was quick as I grabbed Zera and Seth. "We need a place to hide." I said as I looked around.

Seth looked at me and then looked at the giant pile of ash in the corner of the room. He looked from the ash, back to me… back to the ash… and then back to me again. I looked at the pile of ash and started shaking my head. "No…" I started to say before Seth pulled out a giant scarf and started wrapping it around my nose and mouth. He was quick to pull me and Zera into the pile of ash and I felt it crash down all around me as it did so.

Seth actually held my head down into the ash while fighting with Zera as well. I managed to squirm my head out of the ash enough that I could see a woman walking into the central chamber. When I got a better look at her, I could see that it was Tilisu Severin. She was a kind old woman that gave me a bed frame a year ago. She also always gave me ice cream cones whenever I visited her place. I never would have expected her to be some sort of criminal. That couldn't be true. I had to talk to her.

I struggled to pull myself out of the ash, and it drew a look from Tilisu as I did so. "Veselle?" She asked as she rushed over at me. She looked lightly amused as she walked over to me, shaking her head in amusement as she looked down at me. "Veselle, that's not a pile of ash that you should be playing in. Those are the remains of hundreds of dead Ulens."

I nodded as I struggled to pull myself out. Zera and Seth followed after me. "Yeah, I found that out like six minutes ago." I said to her as I started brushing the ash off my training uniform.

Her gaze hardened. "Well, if you know that, then why are you playing in the piles of dead?"

I pulled the scarf down and pointed at Seth. "You remember my boyfriend, right?"

She nodded. "I do indeed."

"He tried to take my body without my permission. And when I refused, he pushed me in the ash to take me in front of his ancestors."

That drew a gasp from both Zera and Tilisu. "You did WHAT?" They both screamed in unison.

Zera started pounding on her brother's chest. "Why would you do that?" She screamed at him as she punched him.

Tilisu was running with the pinching cheeks thing as she scolded him. "How dare you mistreat this lovely lady!"

Seth just looked at me with wide horrified eyes. I made a visual of checking my nails and hummed to myself as he stood there and got beaten up. That's what he gets for pushing me in the ashes of the dead. I just stood there and watched the two girls beat him up for a few seconds before I decided to interrupt. "Excuse me, Mrs. Severin." She let go of Seth's cheeks and looked over at me. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

She looked around. "What do you mean?"

"Isn't this tomb of some disgraced family that tried to kill the Redorans or something like that?"

She shrugged. "I think that description is a little… biased, but that's the rumor, yes." She said as she crossed her arms. "Why are you in this tomb if you think it's so unimportant?"

I wrapped my arms around Zera and Seth. "My new family is related to the Ulens. I wanted to pay my respects to my future husband's ancestors."

"You puked in my great-grandmother's urn." Seth reminded me.

"And she totally forgave me." I reminded him.

Tilisu nodded. "Well, I guess that's a good reason to be here." She cleared her throat. "Well, try not to play in the ashes of the dead anymore. If you ingest too much ash… you'll start hallucinating their memories, and no one but junkies will enjoy that."

I had a sinking feeling that Tilisu was the clue that I was here to find. I just had to have a solid lead. "So, why are you here?" I asked after her as she hurried to leave.

She stopped and looked back at me. "I thought the Ulens were all dead. I believe all families should be visited and cared for… regardless of their crimes." She hurried through the doorway. "Have a pleasant day, children."

As soon as she left, Seth turned to look at me. "Why did you do that to me?"

I shrugged. "Zera, hum time." She rolled her eyes and started covered her ears. She started humming out loud as she walked away from us. As soon as she was far enough away, I leaned in and said, "Because you won't do _it_ to me." And then I shrugged. "And it's the first thing that came to mind."

He shook his head. "Is having sex all you care about?"

I shrugged. It's not all I cared about, but it was about time we tried it out. I was curious why Talvas and Gwen enjoyed doing it so much. I had to hear it every single morning when I walked out of my room and heard them doing it against the wall. And I had to hear Gwen cry out happily as I walked by. I still think she does it on purpose to bother me. I'm not sure when she'll stop hating me, but I doubt it will be anytime soon.

I shrugged at him. "No, it's not. But still, I think it's about time we upped our relationship."

He crossed his arms. "What's this really about?"

Really about? Didn't I just say it? "What do you mean?"

He nodded at me, suddenly figuring something out. "It's about the Compatibility spell." He nodded to me as if he suddenly knew what was going on. "You've been like this ever since we learned about Compatibility. You think…" He paused and then he nodded with conviction. "You think that having sex with me will make us more compatible or something like that."

I couldn't believe he just said that, but then I started actually thinking about what he said. And then I started thinking about how I've been feeling lately. And… he was right. Ever since we learned about the Compatibility spell, I've been worried that the two of us wouldn't be able to work the spell right. What if when we attempted the spell, we found out we weren't compatible? I guess moving our relationship up and actually get to the next stage would kind of be like a compatibility test of its own kind. Was that why I was suddenly pushing this so much? I shook my head at the thought. Maybe. I don't know. I sighed as I looked down at Seth. "You might be right."

He smiled ridiculously and rubbed the back of his head. "I think I might get used to hearing that." He tapped me on the forehead, laughing. "I know you so well now that I can figure out your motives and stuff."

I knocked his hand away and stepped closer to him. "What am I thinking now?" Pizza and grape juice, pizza and grape juice, pizza and grape juice!

He stroked his chin before saying, "You want to eat pizza and drink grape juice." Holy crap, he was right!

I rushed in and kissed him on the lips. As soon as I did, I paused. I forgot both of us were still covered in ash of all colors and flavors. It tasted nasty. And as I looked at Seth's face, I think I saw that he was thinking the same thing I was thinking. I could see the disgust in his eyes at the taste of the ash. We broke our kiss apart with gags. Heck, I almost vomited again. Seth looked like he was going to vomit too. "Never… do that… again." He said as he bent down to pick up his great-grandmother's urn. I looked away as he opened it up and vomited into it.

"OH COME ON!" I heard the great-grandmother scream from her table, which was invisible to us now.

Zera walked back over to us, still covering her ears and humming out loud. I reached out and grabbed her hand. I pulled it away, saying, "It's ok now."

She sighed a relief as she looked around. "Can we go now?"

I nodded. I had whatever stuff I needed, I guess. I just hope Captain Veleth was more than willing to accept whatever I said as proof. "I hope so." I nodded to Seth. "Let's go."

The three of us were quick to leave the tomb. We didn't want to have the great-grandmother to come and give us another lecture about puking in her urn. The town looked more lively than it did yesterday. And by that, I mean that when I came into town, no one was outside. And everyone that even looked at me looked like they wanted to kill me. Not so much today. I got the usual smiles and whatnot. It was like yesterday didn't even happen. Knowing what I knew from yesterday, the feeling that someone was watching us all, controlling everyone around me… I think that person in the giant rock was behind it. And if that Daedra Lord knew what was going on, I bet he was in on it too. And Anari tried to stop me because whatever I would do would interfere with her master's plans. That made me shake my head. Daedra Lords messing with our lives… when will it end?

I spotted one of the Cute Girl Squad members. I could tell because he had a red armband on his right arm. "Hey there!" I screamed to him and waved.

The guard noticed me and waved back. He waited as I ran up to him. "May I help you with something?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I need to talk to Captain Veleth. Where is he?"

He nodded to the bulwark. "Talking to Neloth." He was, was he? That was good. I wanted to talk to Mom and Dad anyway.

I nodded to the guard. "Thanks for the help."

He nodded back, but then stuck his hand up. "Umm.. about yesterday. I didn't feel like myself. Do not take it personally."

I shook my head. "I found out what's going on. Don't worry about it… you weren't in control." _A Daedra Lord was._ I thought to myself as I walked away. I waved to him as I walked away. "Talk later." If he was a member of the Cute Girl Squad, I would probably see him later.

I headed over to the bulwark with Zera and Seth. It was pretty busy since every guard was busy trying to find out who might be trying to murder the Councilor of the town. As soon as I entered the bulwark, the guards stopped what they were doing to look down at me. I waved to them and headed on back to where my parents were. A noticed a full squad of non-Cute Girl Squad members were behind me. I sure hoped they weren't going to do anything to me.

"That would make sense." I heard Father up ahead. "If that were the case, I can see how this town would be responding to our presence."

As I rounded the corner, I could see Captain Veleth sitting next in a chair next to the cell my mom and dad were locked behind. "It was like some dream… like I couldn't control myself. And the thoughts… the wanting to kill you with my sword… it was too much."

Mother nodded. "That's what it was like when I was infected with the heart stone."

I cleared my throat and it drew the attention of the captain. He spun in his chair to look over at me. "Ah, Veselle. You're back. Look… about yesterday."

I brought my hand up to cut him off. "I already know. And that's something I need to talk to Dad about."

"I can't release him; the sentence has to carry. If you don't find out who the culprit is… they might end up facing the death sentence." Captain Veleth said as he stood up from his chair. "I have no choice in the matter. I don't get to change the verdict."

"Well, it's a good thing I have a story then." I said to the captain. "Last night, I was kidnapped by a Daedric Lord. Some giant tentacle monster with a fetish for knowledge and stuff."

"Lord Hermaeus Mora." Father said, deadpanned. He obviously didn't care for my description.

"Right, that guy." I nodded to Dad. "So, anyway. He proposed a trade of information. He tells me how to find out who the assassin gunning for Councilor Morvayn, and I have to tell my dad something."

"A message for me? From the Lord of Fate?" Dad asked, his eyebrows shot up. "What is it?"

"He said something like… um… Miraak is coming. You must travel north to the Skaal village and talk to the shaman. He will know what's going on." I shrugged. "More or less, that's what I remember."

Dad nodded. "I remember that village. We will journey there once we have tied up our problems here."

I looked over at Captain Veleth. "About that. The Daedra tentacle monster told me to go to the Ulen tomb and wait. I'd get a clue to whoever was trying to kill Councilor Morvayn. And Tilisu Severin walked into the tomb. And… I think this might be a clue. You should go raid her house."

Captain Veleth was about to nod until my father stuck his hand up. "Wait a second… we should send Veselle and her friends."

What? Why?

"What? Why?" Captain Veleth seemed to mimic my thoughts as he looked over at Dad.

Dad looked from me over to Veleth. "Think about it. Veselle is a cute little girl."

I nodded. "Thanks, but where are you going with this?" Unless it ends up with Seth kissing me, I don't care. Just in case it did, I took a step closer to Seth. He looked at me with eyes that said that he knew _exactly_ what I was thinking again. And he seemed ok with it. Yay!

Dad ignored us and looked back at Captain Veleth. "If you go stomping in with warrants, you'll only attract suspicion and the assassin will act early. But if say, Veselle goes over for a bag of fruit or a tea party with Tilisu Severin, or to get dating advice from Tilisu's daughter…that will get them at least inside the house. And then one of the three children can go about and find whatever it is that will prove the family is a secret assassin militia."

Captain Veleth stroked his peach fuzz beard for a second before nodding. "I like it." He looked at me. "But, how will they be able to conduct their search without being caught?"

Dad looked over at me. "Veselle, get me three rings." He looked over at the captain. "I will enchant their rings with Invisibility and Soul Separation. One of them will be able to sneak away at a time and search the house without being seen or sensed." He looked at us and made sure we were all paying attention. "I recommend you start with the master bedroom. I'm sure whatever you're looking for is locked behind some locked safe or something."

"And how will I get into that?"

Dad rubbed his chin for a second. "I will need a key." He looked at Captain Veleth.

Captain Veleth sighed as he reached into his pocket. "Use mine."

Dad took it from him and held it in his palm. "I will enchant this key with Unlock Master Lock. Use it wisely. It will only have five uses on it."

I looked at Seth and Zera. "Ok… so… who's up for a tea party?"

Zera jumped up and down. "I am, I am!"

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_yay, tea party time! Cearbhail style!  
_


	32. Fifty Shades of Sanguine

**Cearbhail**:

_Back to the Chronicles of Veselle. and boy do I have a fun one for you. You probably have a good idea by the title, but... I refuse to ruin it. Just have a fun time..  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_It's still the 10th of Sun's Dusk. So much to talk about. But where to begin? Well, after Lord Tentacle Rape Monster caught me in his realm and forced me to tell my dad about Miraak, something that's connected to the stones acting up. Lord Tentacle Rape Monster wants my dad to travel north to some village, and talk to some shaman about this Miraak thing. I don't know what's going on, but this shaman is supposed to know exactly what's going on. In exchange for that information, I was told to hang around the Ulen Tomb. I'd find the culprit of the assassination attempt in there. And I ran into Tilisu Severin, a really nice woman that used to make bread for me, and would give me ice cream whenever I hung out with her daughter, who was older than me by maybe four years._

_So, anyway, it seems that the Severin family might be guilty of premeditated assassination. I really hate to think that the Severin family might be assassins from Morrowind. That would just suck. Oh well, I have to find out. If I don't find out who's trying to kill Councilor Morvayn, my own parents might end up facing a death sentence. And I know that they would never let the Redorans kill them. It would lead to a war with House Redoran. And we just don't have the numbers to fight that. Not to mention, starting a war with House Redoran will give the Dominion just the push it needs to push their soldiers on us again, like they did with the Argonian Shadow Agents long ago. And everyone knows that._

_Oh well, I have to think of something to get us inside. Dad programmed us some rings of Invisibility and Soul Separation, but those won't get us too far. Someone will notice that we're missing. So… I guess we'll just have to play it by ear, and that's only if they let us past the front door. I come over all the time, so I guess it won't be so bad. Um… there are portals ripping open in front of me. I should go._

_Veselle._

_…_

I reached for my staff and pushed Zera behind me as the two portals standing in front of me spread out. We were halfway to the Severin house by now. If they suspected we knew about their involvement with House Hlaalu, this could be their assassins gunning to kill us before we could act on that information. I heard Zera behind me whine under her breath as a giant armor-clad Dremora with long horns stepped out one of the portals. The second portal seemed to hover there for a few seconds before a cane snapped through the portal and slammed on the ground. A leg covered in purple pants followed the cane. And then a man pushed through the portal. The man looked like an ordinary old man. He had a long curvy mustache, a top hat, and a wicked smile. His eyes shined pure black with flecks of light that reflected the universe. It scared the heck out of me. But more than that, his outfit was a business suit: half blood red, the other half purple. He leaned heavily on his cane as he walked out of the portal.

The tall Dremora and the old man looked down at me and my team. I readied my staff as I looked at the two of them. "If you're here for a fight… well… I won't hold back."

"Neither will I!" Seth screamed as he stepped up beside me.

The old man smirked. "Pants on fire." He said with a croak. And just like that, Seth's pant lit on fire. Seth screamed out in horror as he started pulling his pants off. The fire died off instantly and there was a gooey substance sticking to his hakama. It looked like cheese.

I screamed as I willed my fire to flow out of me. A torrent of fire roared to life and I started focusing my fire on the two Daedra in front of me. I willed my fire at the old man. My fire gathered into a beam as I launched it to me. The old man just stood there and waited as the fire fell upon him. My fire exploded into a cloud of butterflies that fluttered away as the old man just stood there and watched me. "Why are we here again?" He looked up at the tall Dremora with the long horns.

The Dremora looked over at him. "Well…" The Dremora scratched his chin. "I forget. Silly me… I could have sworn we came here for a reason."

"Reason? Oh… my arch enemy." The old man said as he shook his fist to the sky. He looked back down at me. "Oh, aren't you a cutie. I wonder what would happen if I turned your skin yellow."

I stood there as my hands suddenly turned golden yellow… like an Altmer. That caused Seth and Zera to scream in surprise. I snapped my head around to see Seth looking at me with horror. "Vess… he turned you into an Altmer!"

"What?" I screamed as I reached into my bag and fetched my mirror. When I pulled it out and looked at my image, I saw a really cute Altmer face with raven black hair. Not going to lie, I kinda liked it. But I wasn't and Altmer. I was Dunmer. I looked up at the old man. "What did you do to me?"

"What did I do?" He scratched his temple. "Well… I wasn't really paying attention. Can you be more specific?"

"Why am I an Altmer?" I screamed to him.

He shrugged. A large padded chair popped up behind him and he reached into his suit and pulled out some type of huge pipe that blew bubbles. "Why are any of us what we are?" He replied sophisticatedly. "Perhaps you were always an Altmer and were blind to your true nature. Or perhaps your perception of what an Altmer is has changed. What is an Altmer anyway?" He shrugged at his own question. "Who's to say? Oh wait… you mean the whole changing you into an Altmer, aren't you?" He stood up from his chair and stuffed his pipe away. "Well, Altmer look like cheese, taste like it too."

"You're going to eat us?" Zera screamed from behind me.

The Tall Dremora looked down at Zera. "What? Oh gods no." He shook his head at the idea. "Actually, we have something important to ask." He looked at the old man. "Um… do you remember what it was?"

The old man shrugged. "Sorry, I'm still trying to remember if I left my front door unlocked."

"You have a door?"

He nodded. "Oh yeah. It moves around a lot, and I lost the key. Without that key, my door will just keep wandering around Shivering Isles with no protection from burglars." He shuddered. "That door is a little perverted though. Keeps calling me the key master. It moans with pleasure every time I stick my key inside it."

The Dremora chuckled at that. "I ship it."

"The only problem is that the Wabbajack is the only thing capable of locking that door. So, to lock it, I need to stick my Wabbajack into her. Last time I did that, I ended up with a Splinter in my Wabbajack." The old man said as he started rubbing his pants. "And my Wabbajack doesn't work like it used to."

"I know what you mean. I go out for a nice little drink and the next day when I wake up, I seemed to give my Sanguine Rose to someone I just met last night. Can't even remember what we did that made me give them my Rose." He looked at me for a second before smiling at me. "Why, hello cutie. Would you like to have the night of your life? I'll give you my Sanguine Rose if you beat me."

My face ran hot red and my blush showed on my yellow face. I couldn't help but picture Seth holding me down while saying something like that. I had to shake the thought away as the two Dremora looked at me. They were watching me carefully as they waited for me to do something. I puffed my face out as I looked at them. "Ok… so… what's this about? Are you going to kill us or what?"

The Dremora guy shook his head. "I'm a lover, not a killer." The Dremora stated. "I'm just here to…" He scratched his long horn. "I swear I had a reason before I came here."

"Reason… my worst enemy." The old man looked up at the sky. He finally looked down at the confused Dremora. "Sanguine, want to get something to drink?"

Sanguine, the tall Dremora, nodded. "That sounds like so much fun, actually. Maybe a few pins will remind me why I came here." The two Dremora turned around and disappeared as a portal ripped open in front of them. The portals closed for a second, leaving me standing there. I looked down at my hands to see that I was still an Altmer. What?

I looked at Seth and then Zera. "Am I still an Altmer?"

Zera's eyes started tearing up and she started crying into my pant leg. Seth just put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze. "I will love you regardless."

I replied to him by making out with him. And we kissed for a couple minutes, and well, I cried for a while too. I didn't want to be an Altmer. This was all sorts of messed up. I don't know who that Dremora was, but he changed my race. How could that even be possible? I sighed as I turned around and looked over at Severin Manor. "Ok… let's get this over with." It might actually be easier to get in the Severin household if I was suddenly turned into an Altmer. Not sure though. It would sure make a great distraction to the whole family.

As I took a step forward, a large portal ripped open in front of me. The two partying Dremora were leaning on each other as they walked out, both of them laughing heavily as they exited the portal. Both Dremora were carrying pints in their hands as they sluggishly walked out of the portal. The Sanguine Dremora guy hiccupped as he looked over at me with lazy eyes. "You know what… I like you. You sure do know how to show a man a good time." He said as he ran his hand under my chin. That sent shivers down my spine. What the heck was he talking about?

"I remember when I first met you." He said as he pushed off the old man. He sluggishly walked over to me. "It was… uh… a year ago? You were so innocent, so pure. You had this nice personality and then… and then… bam!" He slammed his hand into an open palm. "You ended up in my Domain. Your hair all tied up in your little cute pigtails. First I thought you'd be uptight and rejecting of your decision. But… you showed me different. The way you moved, the way you danced, played around… you showed me different." He said as he ran his hand across my face. "You're quite the party animal, cute little Dunmer." Even as he said it, my hand started turning ashy gray again.

I stood there paused for a second as Seth stepped up to him. "Whoa! That's my girlfriend, Dremora! Hands off."

Sanguine looked over at Seth, smiling innocently. "Oh? She's grown so much in one year. Amazing." He reached behind his back and then pulled out a large staff out of nowhere. "I want you to have my Rose, dear cutie." He presented it to me, smiling as charmingly as possible as he did so.

I bowed as I took the large staff. "Um… thanks. But… what is it?"

"It's my Sanguine Rose. Whenever you need the assistance of a Dremora Lord, you but only have to ask. I will be by your side in a second to help you out. After all, it would be a sad day when such a party animal with such a wonderful spirit would be taken away from this large party." He bowed to me as he stumbled on his feet. He didn't look like he was going to keep standing for much longer.

"Um… thanks." I replied to him. When on nirn did I meet this guy? "So… how do we know each other?"

He smiled at me. "Why I'm the Daedric Lord of Debauchery. I rule over the feelings of greed, lust, sloth, and gluttony. And I love people who love to drink. And you're the youngest ever to step into my domain. But when you arrived, you showed me your true nature. I saw you as you danced around that booby-trapped room. The way you laughed as you danced across the deadly blades. The way you insulted that old woman. The way you went after that dragon priest, and the way you tried to get into the Dunmer boy's pants. All things I approve of. You were a very fun person to watch, and I want to keep watching you." He winked to me before looking at Seth. "You have a very special girl, you know. I'm jealous."

The old man just stood there, watching us as he fell onto the ground. "I should turn the sun into a block of ice." He hiccupped before waving at the sun dismissively. "Oh, why bother. It already confuses me with its self-producing fire. Why destroy such randomness?"

Sanguine leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "See you around, cutie." He winked before bending down to help the old man up. "Come on, Sheo. Let's get you home and tucked in."

"I'm already tucked in." He replied. "Haven't pulled it out at all today."

Sanguine chuckled weakly as a portal ripped open in front of him. "Ha ha ha… eww.." He said as the portal closed behind them.

I quickly looked back at Seth and Zera. "Am I actually a Dunmer again?"

Seth nodded. His face was a little shaken about the whole thing. "Uhh… yeah. Don't worry, Vess. You're back to normal."

I took a few seconds to look at Seth. He looked uncertain about something. Like something Sanguine said had bothered him. "Seth? What's wrong? You're making that face again."

He looked up at me for a second before shrugging. "It's just… you know… I keep hearing about how much you like Talvas."

I rolled my eyes. I grabbed onto Seth's arms and pulled him closer to me. When we were close enough to kiss, I smiled. "Talvas had to get me severely drunk, and I mean so drunk that I tried to make out with a draugr, before I tried to make a move on him. But you… all you had to do was be you."

"Gee… that makes me feel better." He rolled his eyes before I pressed my lips onto him. And we stayed like that for a few minutes before I remembered that we were on a timeline. As I broke our lips apart, I noticed that I was still holding onto the new staff. The staff looked like a collection of roots that intertwined until they formed into a giant red rose at the tip. The rose sparkled with glitter, and it looked very festive. I really liked the design. I wonder what the staff did. I closed my eyes and focused on its enchantment. As soon as I focused on the magicka inside the staff, I was teleported out of my mind.

I saw an image of Sanguine dancing in a complete black background as a bardic band of Dremora played a lively tune for him. He shimmied as he turned to look at me. "Oh, hello again, cutie." He shimmied while he walked up to me. "Feel like showing me what you've got on the dance floor?"

I looked down at my lack of chest and then back up at him. "I don't have anything to show."

He waved it off before spinning around. "Everyone's got something." He said as he grabbed onto my hand and spun me around with him. He twirled me around, wrapping his other hand around the small of my back. He smirked for a second as he dipped me back, almost making me trip. He finally pulled me back up and then spun me out of his grasp. He let me go as I reached the end of his stretch. My foot tripped as I spun myself around and I ended up on the floor. The music stopped and Sanguine was just standing there with his arms crossed. "You're not a very good dancer, are you?"

I groaned as I stood up. I looked over at him. "Not really."

He shrugged and the musicians continued playing their music. He started dancing again, looking at me every few seconds to see if I was still here. "So…" He said as he spun around the black floor. "What did you want?"

"I just wanted to know what this staff can do." I said as I looked around. "I didn't know I'd be taken out of my body."

"You're inside my Rose, cutie." Sanguine replied. He paused as his face suddenly turned red. He shook his head while fighting some sort of fantasy in his head. "Oh my… you're inside me." He chuckled at the idea.

"Hey!" I screamed to him. "No! We are not going to start that crap!"

He laughed as he started dancing again. "Oh, you're no fun." He said with a shrug. He stopped dancing and looked at me. "The Sanguine Rose is my personal rose for my little cutie. The holder of my Rose can summon me whenever she needs me. If you call for my help, I will come. And if I am unable to assist for any reason, I will send one of my strongest warriors to help you in my stead."

"Wow…" I said as he bowed to me. "You're like a bound ally now?"

He nodded. "Daedra Lords cannot bond with mortals. The amount of energy it would take to summon us would kill the caller. So, we use artifacts to help mortals we deem worthy of our help. And you showed me a good time last year. And so… I name you my Champion. The holder of my rose… my heart. And well… other body part if you ever want it." He winked to me before he snapped his fingers. I was suddenly back in my body, looking down at the rose. I dropped the rose and rubbed my hands on my robes. Eww… and I was holding that.

Seth looked at the Rose as it fell from my fingers and then looked up at me. "So…what's it enchanted with?"

I shrugged. "A perverted old Daedra Lord." I replied back. But at least he wasn't a tentacle monster. _Oh, I could be, if that's what you're into._ I heard Sanguine's voice in the back of my head.

_Whoa!_ Kyuu's voice came from nowhere. _How did you get on this frequency?_

_A three way? Hmm… I'm so ok with that._ Sanguine replied back.

I groaned as I looked up at the sky. "No!" I screamed as loud as I could. "This whole… 'let's talk inside Veselle's mind' thing is ending now!"

Sanguine sighed in the back of my head. _I hafta admit, I like it in here. So much room. Too many posters of that Dunmer boy though. And not the one you're dating._

I rolled my eyes as I looked at Seth. "Ok, let's just go and get this tea party thing over with. I want to save my dad's life before time runs out."

"What happens if time runs out?" Zera asked me as we started heading towards the house.

I couldn't help but think of the war that would follow. Dad would have to bust out of prison. Mom would too. House Redoran would have no choice but to declare war on House Telvanni. And then… well… we'd either lose, or we'd win. Neither of those seemed like a good outcome though.

I looked down at Zera. "We won't find out. Because I won't let it come to that."

Seth put his arm around me. "I'm right beside you, darlin'."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I'm on Spring Break ... the last one I'll ever have too. So, I should have more time to put more of these out. But I also have like three papers I need to work on too. So... we'll see.  
_


	33. Tea Ceremony

**Cearbhail**:

_What? A chapter so soon? And two more soon enough? Yes, very yes.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Well, you know what I'm supposed to be doing. I have like 8 hours to prove that House Severin is behind the assassins trying to kill Councilor Morvayn or else my parents might be executed. So, I'm heading to her house to participate in a tea party while one of my teammates searches for any evidence we can use against House Severin._

_Ok, and now for the stuff that's changed. I um… I have a new spirit. Well, a Daedra Lord anyway. He has this crush on me or something like that. He likes me when I'm drunk, I guess is the best way to say it. He gave me a special staff called the Sanguine Rose. I'm able to summon him whenever I need him or one of his many Daedra servants. I kinda like having a new spirit to help me with. After losing Anari, I needed a new one to help me. Kyuu isn't always available and my Ash Guardian is only able to help me if there is Ash nearby. Ok, let's just get this over with._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I stood outside the Severin Manor with Seth and Zera. Tilisu was out in the garden picking ash yams as we walked up to the manor. Just watching her as she picked yams from her garden, I could never think that she was some sort of assassin. Nah, this had to be a mistake.

"Hey, Mrs. Severin!" I screamed to her as we ran up to her garden.

Tilisu nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to look at me. "Oh, Veselle. It's only you." She said as she rubbed the sweat from her forehead. She put her basket of ash yams down to look at me and my friends behind me. "And your friends, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You know Seth and Zera, right?"

She nodded. "I may be old, but my memory is sharp as a tack." She nodded to Seth and Zera. "Members of the Ulen family, right?"

Seth shrugged. "On our mother's side, yeah."

Tilisu nodded to Seth but then looked over at me. "So, Veselle. What can I help you with? Do you want more milk?"

I shook my head. "Not anything like that really. I was hoping we could have a little tea ceremony class." I looked over at Seth. "I already asked my father and Seth's but my father's a little…busy at the moment, and Seth's father knows nothing of tea."

Seth nodded. "It's true. My father is a complete dunce." He tried to hold a chuckle as he looked over at me.

"It's not his fault he's a dummy!" Zera screamed as Seth and me.

Tilisu smirked as she bent down to pick up her basket of ash yams. "Well, culture is possibly the most important thing in this world." She turned to look at us, finally nodding. "Well, there is no one better to learn from. Come with me."

The three of us followed Tilisu as she walked over to the front of the door. She handed the basket of her ash yams to me as she unlocked the door. She pushed the door open, ushering us inside. "Come, come." She looked up at the sky, frowning. "There is a storm brewing."

I looked up in the sky. There wasn't a single cloud up there, nor could I see any smoke coming from the Red Mountain. What kind of storm was she expecting? I looked at Tilisu. The gentle look in her eyes was gone. She looked a lot like Teldryn right now… ready for a fight of some kind. Tilisu clapping her hands caught me by surprise. "Right." She said as she led us over to the staircase that led us to the main floor. "You know where the meditation room is. I will be there shortly with the tea pot."

I looked over at Zera and Seth. "Ok, so… let's go sit down and wait."

I've been inside the Severin Manor before, but I'd never actually looked around. I mean… why would I? I always came over here to hang out with Mirri. She was pretty much the only girl close to my age. She was 15, only one year older than me.

The main floor of the manor was just filled with stuff. There was a complete room dedicated just to Alchemy. Another just for Enchanting. And even still was one large room filled with complicated training dolls. The meditation room was right next to the training room. I could hear heavy breathing from inside the room.

"You call yourself a fighter?" I could hear Vendil Severin bellow from the other side of the wall.

"I'm sorry, father." I heard Mirri's shaky voice. "I'll try harder."

"See to it that you do." Vendil replied back. "If we are going to…"

"We have guests." Tilisu said in the hallway as she passed by the training room.

There was a slight pause and then Vendil looked into the room from the hallway. He looked at the three of us as we stood in the meditation room. He finally nodded to us. "Do not mind us. Mirri is only training to become a guard when she grows up. We _are_ House Redoran after all."

I nodded. Ok… that was suspicious. "Yeah, no problem. Listen… if Mirri ever needs a sparring partner, I'm pretty good at martial arts."

Vendil smirked. "Do you wish to prove that right now?"

Tilisu exhaled in defeat as she walked up next to Vendil. "Dear husband, they are here for tea ceremony, not a muscle flexing contest." She entered the room and nodded to us. "Everyone, take your seats on the cushions."

I looked down to see the purple cushion I always sat on and claimed it by throwing a Shield around it as Seth tried to sit down on it. He received a small shock to his butt as he tried to sit down. He jumped up immediately before sighing and walking over to a different cushion.

Tilisu gently bent down and took a seat on one of the cushions while setting the tea set aside. "Mirri, you should com join us for tea." Tilisu gently called into the training room.

"Mother, I'm pretty sweaty. Shouldn't I shower first?" She called right back.

"Nonsense. You're just fine for tea." She laughed gently as she started setting tea cups up for us. She closed her eyes in meditation as she started pouring tea.

Vendil sighed with relief as he sat down next to his wife, closing his eyes. They just sat there in quiet meditation. I looked around at Zera and Seth. I shrugged at them as I tried to think of a way to get one of us out of here. The best way would be for me to fight Mirri in a sparring match. That would draw everyone's attention and while I took her on, Zera or Seth could go their thing.

Everything was quiet for a minute before Mirri entered the room. She was running a towel over her face, trying her best to draw whatever sweat she had on her onto the towel. She smiled at me as she sat on the other side of her mother. She took a deep breath as she sat down in seiza, closing her eyes in meditation too. Tilisu and Vendil finally opened their eyes. Vendil watched as Tilisu started pouring the cups of tea. It was a slow and methodical practice. The tea came out deep green. It was matcha tea. Yuck… but whatever. I'll drink it.

As one of the tea bowls was handed to me, I took a deep breath, holding it as I spun the bowl in my hands a couple times before bringing it to my lips. Tilisu watched me intently as I drank from the bowl. Seth and Zera took their bowls as well, following my example and drinking it the same way I did. And we sat like that for a couple minutes, just drinking tea. It was nice, but I couldn't help but think that I needed to find some proof or else my father and mother would probably start a war between House Telvanni and House Redoran.

_Veselle!_ I heard Kyuu's voice in the back of my head. _I talked to Tatianna. She'll be more than happy to talk to Zera about bonding with her._

_What? What's going on?_ Sanguine started talking next. _So… this Tatianna. Is she available?_

_Dude… not going to happen._ Kyuu called back.

_Does she have a great personality? Can she hold her liquor? What about her figure? Plot or justice?_

_Drop it, or I'll drop you!_ Kyuu growled to him. _She's not available to someone like you!_

_Shut up!_ I thought to both of them as loudly as I could. _We're not going to discuss her plot points inside my head, or at all._

Sanguine only sighed. _Very well. You're enough of a cutie for me anyway._

_Yeah, that's stopping too._ I said to Sanguine before I heard a clap. Tilisu was done with her tea and was looking at me with mild interest.

"Veselle. You seem distracted. Is something wrong?" She asked me as she took my tea bowl from me.

I sighed and shrugged. I gestured over to Zera and said, "Well, yesterday, I promised Zera that my bound spirit Kyuute would help her get a spirit of her own. Well, he can speak to me telepathically and reported to me that his friend has agreed to meet Zera."

"Really?" Her eyes shone with anticipation. "I can't wait to meet her."

I nodded at Zera before looking back at Tilisu. "And then I met this Daedra Lord. I think his name is Sanguine."

Vendil frowned at the mention of Sanguine. "You met a Daedra Lord? What did he want with you?"

I shrugged and pulled out the Sanguine Rose. "He wanted to give me this staff."

Vendil finally nodded. "Well, it would seem that you have become quite the capable Dunmer mage. Getting the attention of our gods is something that would become the envy of many Templars." He took a sip of his tea, not saying anything else as he sat there with his eyes closed.

I looked back over to Tilisu. "So, the reason I was looking distracted was because Sanguine is always talking to me through telepathy, just like Kyuu. They were fighting with each other and I was trying to get them to shut up."

Tilisu nodded. "I guess you don't know how to block out telepathy, do you?" She smirked as she sat up. "It's quite easy, really. You might run into a telepath one day that can rip your mind asunder… and then you'll be a yam." She stood up and brushed off her dress before saying, "Just imagine your thoughts as a cloud. And then you put a Shield over that cloud, like you would yourself when you're defending yourself from a magicka attack."

Was it really that simple? I would have to try that one day. But, there was something I really needed to get started doing. I needed to find proof that the Severins were really the Ulens trying to kill Councilor Morvayn.

I looked from Tilisu over to Mirri. She was still drinking her tea quietly. "Um… do you think we can have that sparring match?"

She looked over at me, brushing her loose hair away from her eyes. "What? Why?"

"I'm a martial artist. I like to fight new people. Don't…you?" The look in her eyes told me that she wasn't too thrilled with the idea of fighting me.

She looked from me over to her father. I looked over to him as well. He finally nodded and looked at me. "I'm curious as to what you know as well." He smirked as he left the room. Gee… he reminded me so much of my father that I could barely think they were different people. And Tilisu seemed just as composed as my mother was. And well… Mirri… she reminds me of my sister Brelyna. If Brelyna was a martial artist like me.

Vendil led us out of the meditation room to the training room. There was a large space left completely empty. It was a large square fighting floor, filled with floorboards with springs underneath that let you stomp your foot and take a hard fall without getting hurt too much. I loved training on these. I needed to build a training dojo like this for Tel Mithryn.

I looked at Mirri as she looked at me uncertainly. She sighed as she stepped up to the other side of the floor. She bowed to me, and I bowed to her. She brought her fists up and then screamed at me. She moved quickly. I almost didn't have time to bring up my own fists when she charged at me. Most opponents I've fought would punch me. Mirri didn't do that. She palm-thrusted me. And raw magicka was rolling off her thrusts, burning mildly like flames. Hey! That was my thing!

I closed my fists and started punching her, flames pouring off my fists. As I punched at her, she blocked me, pushing my arm away. Two fingers from her other hand found their way into my soft underarm. Two slight pulses of lightning surged through me and I felt my arm go dead. I was puzzled for a second. It was like when I fought with Dad. He'd do this stuff to me too. I looked back at Mirri. The soft look in her eyes was gone. She looked like a true fighter, her eyes sharp and analyzing me. I felt two more slams in my stomach. More flames pushed through me and I was stumbling back. My insides were squirming, my legs turning to jelly.

No! I mentally screamed to myself. I fought the weakness in my body. I noticed that Seth was missing and so was Zera. They must be looking for the proof by now. I just had to keep this going. I brought my fists up and took a deep breath. I pushed after Mirri, throwing a few punches at her as fast as I could. She effortlessly dodged my attacks, each time punching my arms with her lightning fingers. I couldn't believe she was taking me out so easily. I was trained by Mjoll! That's right… I was trained by Mjoll. And Karliah! What was I doing? This fighting style I was using was not what they taught me. I never needed magicka before I came to this place. Why should I start using it now?

Mirri moved like a serpent. She moved off to the side a little, jumping out of the way of my vision. I felt her presence underneath me and I jumped back in time to avoid a palm-thrust intended for my chin. Light blue flames that did not resemble the blue flames that Seth used barely missed singeing me. I jumped back, snapping my leg out at her as I did so. I made contact with her and she grunted as she took the full hit.

I used that kick to push me further away. By the time I touched down, Mirri was regaining her balance and looking at me with a pained expression. She readied her stance again, taking a deep breath as she collected herself. I readied myself as well. I waited for her as she collected herself. The longer it took her to continue fighting, the better chance my friends had to find the proof we need.

"Where are the Vedes children?" Vendil asked from outside the ring. Crap! He noticed they were missing.

"Zera wasn't feeling too well from drinking her tea. I showed them to the bathroom." Tilisu stated. "That's odd. I didn't expect Zera to have a weak stomach to matcha."

"It's an acquired taste to be sure." Vendil stated from beside her.

I turned my attention back to Mirri. "Hey, you're pretty good."

She smirked. "So are you. Who taught you?"

"Mjoll the Lioness and Karliah Indoril." I couldn't let them down now. I had only just begun this fight. _Vess._ I could hear Seth's voice in the back of my head. _We found a note in a safe. It's true. Vendil Severin is actually Vendil Ulen. It's all right here. They're planning on killing the Councilor._

_It's too bad you had to find that._ I could Vendil's voice in my head. Shivers ran down my spine. _Now I can't let you leave here alive._ "Daughter, I believe it's time for you to end your fight with Veselle." He turned to leave the room. "Do be quick with executing her."

Mirri looked out at Vendil. "Dad?"

He looked back at Mirri, almost growling. "Don't argue with me, daughter. Just kill her."

Mirri looked at me with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, Veselle. I'll miss you." She charged at me with speed so quick that I could barely track it. Next thing I knew there was a palm thrust in my neck. The world spun around me and I was down. The life inside me vanished and the last thing I saw was Mirri looked down at me with tears in her eyes.

…

The first thing I noticed that I wasn't dead. My arms felt heavy, cold, lifeless. My head throbbed like it was killing me. I groaned as I tried to sit up. I was still lying in the dojo, pushed off to the corner like a piece of trash. As soon as I sat up, the whole room spun around me. My vision blurred and I felt my stomach spasm. I turned around and found myself vomiting on the dojo floor. I sat bent over like that, keeping the majority of my weight on my hands as I looked down at the green pile of bile spilt over the floor.

I struggled to remember what had happened. I was fighting with Mirri and then… she chopped me in the throat. And I thought I had died. My body felt stiff. Mirri was fast in the way she hit me too. I thought for certain that if she wanted to kill me that she would. I remembered Zera and Seth were with me and that shot me up to my feet. I stumbled, my legs nearly buckling underneath me. I had to find them! I ran out of the dojo as fast as I could, looking around for any signs of a fight. Vendil, the Ulen assassin, went after my friends to kill them for finding out his secret. If he found them, they would be dead. I don't know what I would do if they were. As soon as I exited the room, I heard a gasp. I snapped my head around to see Zera standing right behind me, her hands over her mouth like she didn't expect me to be standing up.

"We thought you were dead!" Zera screamed as she charged into me. My weak body toppled over and Zera ended up on top of me, punching me lightly as she cried. "Why did you do that to us?" She started crying into my shirt.

Seth popped out of the bathroom, looking at me. "Vess? You're really here?"

I looked at him and faked the best grin ever. "Yup. Mirri's strong, but she's a horrible shot."

He sighed a relief. "I just got back from the Bulwark. I gave them the note I stole from the safe. Captain Veleth is preparing an attack force. He's asking House Telvanni to assist in the main charge. Thinks we'll do better than his guards."

I nodded as I started pushing Zera off me. "Sure. Is it over? Are Mom and Dad free?"

He nodded. "Released, pardoned, and everything. Master Neloth is heading the charge. He thinks you're dead. And he wants vengeance."

I sighed. "We can't let him kill Mirri."

He crossed his arms. "Why not?"

I thought about it. "If she wanted to kill me, she'd kill me. She missed me on purpose, and she even told me she'd do it too. She saved my life… and I will save hers too."

"You're going to save an Ulen?" Seth asked baffled. He stood there, looking at me with wide eyes.

I nodded. "You didn't see the look on her face when she was told to kill me. She didn't want to. She was crying by the end of it. I can't let her die for something she has no control over."

"And what's that?" I heard Captain Veleth as he stepped down the staircase leading to us. "What can't she control?"

"Who her parents are." I replied to him.

Captain Veleth seemed to understand that. "Very well, Veselle. We will spare the girl if she comes peacefully. Now, come with me, children. We're going to Ashfallow Citadel to finish this."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I want to show the chapter with Ruby so I'm working on this before I return to the Chronicles of Ruby. I hope to have another one down by tomorrow evening.  
_

_Oh, and i just want to say that I know there are like rumors that Mirri is almost as old as Vendil and that they're not actually father and daughter, but for the purposes of awesome storytelling they ARE father and daughter in this story._


	34. Tatianna

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, everyone. A very long chapter today. Had to. I wanted this all done in one session and that includes a very special Zera perspective today! Yeah! Towards the end. You'll see. I left it very open so you can tell it's hers. If you've read any other of my stories, you know I display multiple perspectives like this. [Zeratah]. Yeah, just like that. Ok... have fun.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_A lot has happened. First and foremost, earlier today I managed to infiltrate the Severin Manor under the pretenses that we wanted to have a tea party. And it was nice. We had some tea and I got to talk to Vendil. He definitely gave off the whole assassin man thing. And then there was Mirri. I mean, I never knew she was training to be an assassin, or that she knew any martial arts. If I had known earlier, imagine the sparring matches we could have had. Fighting with Seth was fun, but imagine having a three-way match between Seth and Mirri. That would be so much fun for me. I could go all out too. Magicka all over the place. Well, anyway, I decided to spar with Mirri so that my friends could find some proof that the Severins were really the Ulens and that they were plotting to kill the Councilor._

_Mirri was one intense fighter. She was able to use her magicka in a precise combat fashion. I actually picked up a few tricks from her since our sparring match. If it came to a rematch, I think I would win. But that's a problem all its own. When my friends found the proof they were looking for, they told me telepathically. Vendil eavesdropped on our conversation with the skills of a true assassin and then ordered Mirri to kill me. She pretended to kill me and according to Seth, Vendil and Tilisu searched the whole house for them, but they hid very well and kept moving so that the family would never find them. Soul Separation and Invisibility were invaluable after all._

_After Vendil searched for a few minutes, he declared that they needed to evacuate the house and go to Ashfallow Citadel. They were going to mobilize their troops while they still had an element of surprise. They have their own army of assassins. Ok… so… this is happening. Seth and Zera found me motionless on the floor in the dojo. They checked for a pulse but didn't find out. And they couldn't wake me up either. They rushed to the Bulwark with the note and explained what had happened in great detail. Father was angry that I was dead. But I wasn't. Like I said, Mirri pretended to kill me. She never wanted to fight me. She never wanted to fight at all. She's innocent in all this. She saved my life… and we're mobilizing the entire Redoran Guard against these assassins. I will save Mirri's life, like she saved mine. I just hope she lets me._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

House Redoran guards lined the bulwark with everyone at the ready. My father and mother waited by the gateway, looking out at the strip of land that led out to the wilds of Solstheim. As we approached the gate, Father and Mother both turned around to see me running up.

"Sorry…" I had just begun to say before I was suddenly wrapped up in my father's arms. His cape fluttered in slow motion as he hugged me close to him. I stood there, completely shocked as he actually embraced me.

"I thought you were dead." He said to me as he hugged me close to him.

"Umm…" I started to say before Mother joined in. I was suddenly trapped between two Telvanni Lords as they tried to kill me with their love. I started tapping Dad on the back as I tried to catch my breath. "Ok… I feel the love. Let me go!" I struggled to get out of their death lock.

Dad and Mom finally broke out the hug spree. Dad nodded to me. "Well done, as always, Veselle. You did as expected of you, the best I could have hoped for. You could have tried to stop the family, but with what was going on, I can understand your inability to stop them."

"Mirri was kicking my butt." I said to him. "I couldn't beat her in a fight. Which opens me up to what I'm going to say next." I took a deep breath. I had to say this. "I want to fight her. Just me. No one else will interfere."

He crossed his arms. "What about the rest of the family?"

I shrugged. "I don't care about them. I'd prefer they face justice like normal citizens."

Captain Veleth held up the note that Seth took from the safe. "This note is proof enough that the Severins are actually Ulens in disguise. The whole family, as far as proof can go, is guilty of treason."

"But we don't know that for certain." Seth almost screamed at Captain Veleth. "Only Vendil's name is mentioned in the note. His wife and his daughter might be innocent in the whole thing."

Veleth shook his head. "If you think he can hide something so carefully planned and concealed from his family, you obviously don't know House Hlaalu. They suck at being invisible."

"And yet an entire army of Hlaalu assassins have lived on his island without detection." Father mumbled just loud enough for Captain Veleth to hear.

Captain Veleth almost chuckled. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your dead wife raising the dead, kidnapping your daughter, and living just a mile from you without you knowing about it."

Mother laughed at the thought. She looked over at Dad, nudging. "He has a point. I lived right next to you for years and you never knew."

"I never sought you out." Dad replied.

"Enough." I said. "We can stand here all day and argue about who's more useless: House Telvanni's or House Redoran's leaders, or we can actually do something and get the jump on these assassins before they have time to prepare for a full-on war."

Dad nodded. "Veselle has a point."

"Thanks, Dad."

"We are pretty useless." He growled. "I vote we send Veselle and two unnamed guards to go fight a fully functional army of assassins. I'm certain she can handle them with no problem."

Captain Veleth nodded. "I… agree. That sounds like the perfect offensive plan. Forget mobilizing the whole guard to nullify the massing threat… no… we should send one person with two unnamed guards."

Seth and Zera stood next to me. "We'll be those two unnamed guards." Zera announced.

Both Captain Veleth and Dad laughed at the thought. "Children, we were only kidding. No one is stupid enough to think that sending two guards and a little girl alone would be even considerable for a mission of this caliber. Vendil has been training for this moment for decades. He's very strong, and not going to be beaten by a teenage mage. No… I will slay him personally. The guard will assist me. And Veselle will join me."

Dad nodded. "We shall stay here and watch the Councilor with our lives."

"See to it." Captain said. He nodded to me. "Veselle, Seth, Zera. Come."

The three of us started following Captain Veleth as he started exiting through the gate. I looked back at Dad, waving to him and Mom as we followed the rest of the guard. There were perhaps 12 other guards with us. That was about half of the guard. Six of them had the red armband that showed that they were part of the Cute Girl Squad, a squad that specialized in following me around and dancing on cue for whenever I wanted a musical number. They were getting pretty coordinated. Nah, I'm kidding. That's only on karaoke night. Thrin was probably the best singer of my patrol, but it was Starah that could dance the best. She was pretty cool. Yeah, I have a woman on my squad. She's amazing with a blade. Reminds me of Mjoll, if Mjoll were a party animal. Can you imagine a party animal Mjoll? That's Starah.

"So… do you think we'll be ok?" Zera asked as she walked beside me. "This will be my first real quest."

I nodded to her. That was right… this was her first time. It was Seth's too. They'd been training with me for the past year, but they don't learn as fast as I do. Then again, I was born to Telvanni mages. They were the first in their generation. Their parents weren't going to bother becoming mages either. They were going to stay farmers. They were proud of Seth and Zera though. They had never hoped that their children would someday become part of the restoration of House Telvanni. It was something out of a fairytale.

I finally found my voice. "You'll be fine, Zera." My first mission wasn't all that great. I had Talvas helping me through the majority of it. He protected me, and even past all that, I was almost killed by an Ash Guardian. That was the day I met Kyuu. Even with his help, I was barely keeping it together. Dad had to save me. Dad wasn't here… and neither was Talvas. I was going to have to step up and keep everyone safe. Was I ready for this? I found my stomach sinking at the thought that someone I loved would not be coming back with me. One of my guards… one of my friends… my boyfriend. Oh gods… what was I getting myself into?

We walked in silence for the most part. Seth and Zera continued to ask me for tips on what to do. I told them to just stick close to me and throw as much magicka as possible to everywhere possible. Seth had noticed how worried I appeared and he tried to spend the whole time making jokes. I think it was for his benefit too. He must be shitting bricks if he thought I was worried. These were not some mindless Ash Spawn… these were hardened assassins. People forged from the pits of Red Mountain… trained to kill anyone that got in their way. Oh gods… what was I getting into?

Captain Veleth, after a couple miles of walking, stopped and turned to face us. "Men! Listen up! Right ahead of us… is an enemy…"

"Fire!" I heard from all around us.

"What?" Captain Veleth screamed as crossbolts rained down on us all. I had just enough time to throw a Shield up around me as the bolts rained down at us. Captain managed to cover his head with his own shield as he was hit with the majority of the bolts.

"Well, well, well." Vendil started to say as he stepped out from behind his hiding spot. "It would see that once again…"

"Return fire!" Captain Veleth shouted. The Redoran guards pulled out their bows and took fire at Vendil.

Vendil smirked as he unsheathed a Daedric katana. He slashed with such elegance that he made it look effortless as he chopped the arrows down. He tsked the Captain, shaking his finger at him. "Interrupting me during my evil person monologue. How…unheroic like of you."

"You interrupted my awe-inspiring war preparation speech!" Captain Veleth returned. "That's a soldier's thing. Right before a big battle where someone dies… usually the commanding officer or the comic relief character… a really inspiring speech is given. And you ruined it."

Vendil held up his hands in defeat. "Ok, you got me there. Sorry, I jumped the bow on this. Tell you what. You do your speech, and then I'll do my monologue. Think we can work that into our whole…final battle thing?"

Captain Veleth seemed to consider it. "Only if you promise not fire at us while I'm giving the speech."

Vendil nodded. "And you return the same courtesy." The two men stared at each other for a second they turned to their men. "Ok…" He said back to Captain Veleth. "I will just return to my little hiding spot." He said before he slid back down behind his giant rock.

Captain Veleth cleared his throat and regained his posture before throwing his sword up into the air. "Mer of House Redoran…" He paused before dropping his arm and turning around. "You know… I just don't feel it. You know? It's just like… the moment's already past. Am I right?"

"Oh thank the gods…" Vendil laughed as he stepped back out from behind the rock. "I thought it was just me, hiding behind my rock like I'm somehow no one knows I'm here. It's like… they already know I'm here. You know? So awkward." He cleared his throat, looking down at Captain Veleth. "So… do we just skip the usual good guy bad guy banter and just go straight for the killing each other?"

"Do you plan on surrendering at the last minute when everyone else is dead?" Veleth asked.

He shook his head. "See no reason to. You would never take me alive." He turned around and motioned to the rows and rows of assassins. "Slow them down."

"Don't you mean 'kill them'?" One of the assassins asked.

Vendil smirked and ran for the citadel. "I know what I said."

Captain Veleth turned to look at us. "Ok everyone. Clear them out like novices."

"I have a really bad feeling about this." One of the assassins said as they began charging for us. He was quickly silenced by an arrow in the head.

I looked at Zera and Seth. "Ok, guys. Here's how these things work. The Redoran guard will handle the assassins out here. Captain Veleth and we will probably end up inside the ruin and take the fight to the Ulen family directly. And if you see Mirri… she's mine."

Zera and Seth both nodded. "Well… what are we waiting for?" He started to step in front of me. "Let's go!"

As soon as Seth took off in a run, I followed behind him. I tried to catch up as we raced across a few assassins charging for the Redoran. One of the assassins saw us and switched to us. He was about to attack us until a nearby friend of his grabbed the guy by the shoulder. "Dude… they're children. They can't be that dangerous." He gestured to the 12 Redoran guards. "They are. Focus on them."

"Right." He nodded. "Wow… that was almost stupid of me." He nodded an apology before running for one of the members of Cute Girl Squad, only to be cut down by Starah.

The three of us ran for the citadel, making it all the way up to the archers by the entrance. As soon as I spotted them, I grabbed Seth and pushed him back. I jumped in front of everyone and pulled up a Shield spell. A thick wall of protective magicka roared to life in front of me right before a few arrows nearly pelted me. I held the Shield as I reached into my back pouch. I grabbed the heart stone I kept with me and pulled it out. I held it up and gave it a quick kiss before I tossed it at the archers. They watched as the heart stone fell towards them. When it hit the ground, they looked at it with bemusement before laughing outright. Their laughter was met with a large whirlwind of Ash that turned into huge fists that slammed down on them. Ha! Serves them right for laughing at my cunning strategy to use Volana to fight for me.

Volana's body started to take shape. She looked back at me, bowing to me as she did so. "Mistress Veselle, I have taken care of the archers."

I nodded my thanks to her. "Great. Can you help us inside?"

She shook her head. "No Ash inside. I will break apart if I do go inside."

I finally nodded and then waved to toward the war going on outside. "Then go fight the assassins attacking the Redoran Guard. Keep Cute Girl Squad alive, got it?"

She nodded. "It will be done, Mistress."

I ran past Volana with my team. As soon as we entered the fort, the door closed behind us like it was booby-trapped just for that. I hear pounding on the other side of the door. "Veselle!" Captain Veleth screamed at the door. "Can you open the door?"

I shrugged. A useless display, I know, but habits die hard. "I can try."

I heard laughter in the hallway. I took up a defensive stance as I looked around for assassins of any kind. I didn't see any. It looked like a pretty standard fort: one really long walkway with separate rooms. Oh… and stepping blocks that trigger giant spiked swinging door traps too. Crap… where's a bottle of sujamma when I need it? This was a job for drunken fist Veselle. That's when I got a great idea. I reached for the Sanguine Rose on my back. I had enough backup right here!

I looked back at Seth and Zera. "Um… promise me that whatever you see… or whatever I say… you will _not_ hold it against me."

Zera looked at me like I was an idiot. "What are you talking about?"

Seth only smiled. "I will always be on your side." Oh boy… saying stuff like that before I get drunk. I hope he's strong enough to hold me off.

I looked back at them. I could see the chain that would unlock the door. It was behind a complicated swinging door trap. "I'm about to unleash my drunken fist." _It's about time!_ Sanguine called from deep inside my head. Just bring a few of your strongest drinks, Sanguine. _Oh, boy. Finally!_ He screamed into my head. "I'll take care of the traps. You just stay here for right now."

I pulled the Sanguine Rose in front of me and concentrated on it hard. I reached out for Sanguine and called him to me. I willed the Rose to teleport him to me and then I heard a loud pop sound in front of me. "Here's Sanguine!" He screamed as he charged out the portal. He had a few bottles of what looked like wine in his hands. As soon as he exited the portal, he turned to look at me, a wide grin on his face. "Time to party? Sanguine style?" I nodded as Sanguine passed me a bottle. He kept one for himself. As I started taking a sip, Sanguine pushed the bottle up, making me chug it. "Chug, chug, chug!" He screamed as his miracle liquid seemed to flow right into. It was an instant buzz. No wait time needed.

Time seemed to distort. My body felt hot and everything seemed light and fuzzy. Sanguine smiled as he wrapped his arms around me. "My cutie is ready for a real party." I could barely hold myself from wrapping my arms around him and trying to kiss him. I don't know why, but he seemed really attractive.

I found myself being pulled away by Seth. "Hey, Vess. Not that I'm jealous or anything like that, but you shouldn't be macking on other guys, especially Daedra Lords." As I spun to look at Seth, I could only imagine what it would be like to rip his shirt off and bury my face in his chest. So, I started reaching for his belt to untie his hakama. "What?" Seth called as he started fighting my hands. "Vess? What's gotten into you?"

My only reply was a drunk hiccup. Sanguine, the drunk fool, was busy trying to help me hold Seth down while I undid his hakama. Zera only rolled her eyes as she stepped past us. As I started fighting Seth so that I could undo his hakama, I was vaguely aware that Zera was jumping past the trap block activators, using what knowledge she had of Air magicka to float. She managed to pull the chain that would unlock the door; but that chain didn't unlock the door… it shot a bunch of poisonous darts at Zera.

The room spun around me as I turned my attention from the pinned Seth over to Zera. She had screamed in horror as she was pelted with poisoned darts. And if that wasn't bad enough, when she stepped back, she stepped on one of the block activators. By the time I turned around, one of the swinging doors was already flying at her. I was too slow. I couldn't get to her fast enough. All I saw was a flash of blood on the wall and on the spikes of the swinging door. Oh, and the heart-shattering scream of Zera.

Of course, by the time my drunken brain processed what was going on, I was able to determine that the body lying next to me was Zera's. Her eyes were wide and dilated, but she wasn't covered in holes. She wasn't dead or bleeding out. She was breathing hard and she was twitching like she was fighting a poison inside her. I looked over to the wall to see a bloody corpse smashed into a wall. It was Sanguine's. He had swapped places with Zera, saving her life and giving his away. My mind was still spinning and I doubt that the alcohol in my system was going to wear off anytime soon.

I still had enough sense to form a link with Kyuu in my mind and bring a summon portal to me. "Kyuu!" I called and laughed the portal orb out at Zera. The portal ripped open and Kyuu came jumping out, landing on top of Zera.

He looked over at me with his beady blue eyes. "Hi, partner." He glanced down at Zera for a second. "Oh… I see." His ears perked up and a giant Heal Beam fell down around her. It took a few seconds before the beam wore off.

Zera gasped for breath and quickly sat up, wrapping her arms around Kyuu. "You saved me!" She said as she hugged him close.

He smiled. "It's what I do!" He announced happily.

"Captain!" Seth called to the doorway. "We can't find a way to open the door."

"Ok then." He yelled to us. "I'll just break it down." There was a loud thud and the Captain screamed in pain. "Ow… my wrist." There was another thud. "Ow…my other wrist…" And finally a louder thud that didn't do anything to the door. "Ow… my shoulder!" He was silent for a second before saying. "I can't get in. You'll have to take care of the Ulens yourself."

Seth looked at me as I started placing my hands on his belt again. I was so close to having that tricky knot undone. Seth pulled my hands away, saying, "No time, Veselle. We have people to fight." I groaned as he pulled me up. There should always be time! While the chain Zera pulled did fire deadly darts at her and nearly killed her, it did open up a doorway into one of the rooms. And inside was Tilisu Ulen. She was dressed in a flower kimono, her hair braided and wrapped around the back of her head like a giant halo. She had two golden fans in her hands, and she sat there in seiza while she waited for us to approach her.

Tilisu's eyes flickered open and she looked at us. "I was afraid it would come to this." She said as she started to stand up. She looked at me, a brief smile growing on her lips. "I see Mirri failed to kill you. Shall I spare her the embarrassment and grief of having to go through that again?"

I was still pretty drunk so I didn't really put my fists up. I just stretched my hands out and blasted her with a torrent of orange flames. The flames flooded the entire room and the wave was thick enough that it was making all the nearby stone hot golden as they glowed from the heat I emitted.

As the flames started dying down, I could see Tilisu spinning in the middle of my flames, using Air to create a whirlwind that protected her from any attack. She chuckled as she ceased her spinning, her fans coming down at her sides. "Come now, children… you must have a better plan than that."

By the time she finished her speech, I was already in her face with the Sanguine Rose. "Sanguine, I choose you!"

He appeared through a portal, wielding a massive Daedric longsword. He rushed right for her, but he didn't lob her head off like I thought he would. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Why… hello, cutie." He kissed her. And that was that. Tilisu struggled for a second but I guess you can get drunk off of kissing Sanguine. Her face blushed over and she passed out under his kiss. Sanguine gently placed her down and then looked over at me and my bewildered look. He threw his arms up in question. "What? I'm a lover, not a killer." He turned around and tapped the trap release block at the end of the wall. The next section of barred gates started to slide up out in the main hallway. Time to move on, I guess.

I looked down at Tilisu. "What do we do about her?"

Sanguine smiled. "A party in my mouth will put anyone out for a couple days at least. A party in my pants will put someone out for months." He winked to me. Eww…

I refused to give him anything to reply to so I just turned and ran for the main hallway with the new opened gate. I felt my head starting to clear up already. Man, that was some powerful wine but it sure hit me hard and fast. _Bowchikabowow._ Sanguine forced that word into my mind and it made me want to slam my head into a wall.

As soon as I cleared the next hallway, I found myself staring at a room filled with assassins. Well, "full" was subjective. To me, there were maybe ten assassins. That wasn't a lot… not really. To my friends, it might be a lot more people. I smiled as I reached for my personal staff, dropping the Sanguine Rose on the ground. I cracked my neck as I waved for the first assassin to come at me.

The assassins looked at each other like they were confused about something. "Is it me or are there two girls with twintails looking at us like we're stupid?"

Another assassin lowered his arms. "Now I just feel self-conscious and pitiful." He looked down before reaching for his sword. "It's all their fault!" He was the first one to meet the tip of my staff. My crystal tip poked him right in the middle of the forehead. Oh… and it was still programmed with lightning. As soon as my staff made contact with him, a large lightning wad launched from the crystal tip and ripped through the guy's skull. As soon as he hit the ground, the other assassins all looked at his charred corpse and then at me. They screamed and charged for me. I stuck out my hand and blasted them with a fireball. The room exploded. No one survived.

I looked back at Seth and Zera. Seth looked more than happy at my display, but Zera looked upset. She crossed her arms and huffed as she turned away. "Jeez… I'm not having any fun at all."

"You almost died!" Seth said as he looked down at his sister.

"That was two minutes ago." She reminded him.

I walked past the burnt remains of the assassins and pulled the final lever that opened the last gate. As I stepped into the hallway, I could see the remaining gate was sliding up. Vendil and Mirri both sat inside the room, both in seiza… both dressed in the same armor that I saw the other assassins wearing. I walked into the room and nodded to everyone. "Ok…um…" I waved to them. Once I got their attention, I shrugged. "Give up and go peacefully?"

Vendil looked over at Mirri. "Mirri, you have failed me." He said as he stood up. "Your punishment will be to kill your friends."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and pleading. "But…Dad…"

He backhanded her so hard that she was thrown off her knees and into the pool of water they were meditating around. When Mirri managed to push herself out of the pool of water, Vendil was already on his feet. "No buts! You're part of the Morag Tong! You will not whine like a child! No, do as I ordered and kill the whelps."

She looked at me, her face fearful of disobeying her father. But then I saw her eyes sharpen. "No." She said as she pushed herself out of the water. "I will not kill for you!"

That was as far as she got before a sword exploded through her back. "Fine then. You have failed me for the last time." He let her body slide off the katana and back into the pool of water.

"Kyuu!" I screamed to him.

"On it!" He cried as he bounded off to heal Mirri.

I looked over at Sanguine. "Sanguine!"

"Ready!" He screamed as a giant barrel of wine materialized on his shoulder. He held it over me and smiled. "Open up…" He cooed. I rolled my eyes but opened my mouth. He pulled the trigger and the wine flowed into my mouth. Man… it was so sweet, so smooth. So…where's Seth? I bet I can get past that belt this time.

I was barely able to stand on my feet as Sanguine stopped the wine flow. I missed a step and found myself wandering to the right. Just as I did so, a long Daedra katana brushed past me, cutting my left arm sleeve open. I felt a small razor pinch rub against my arm and I felt some warm blood flowing down. That didn't bother me so much. When I looked over at Vendil, I saw that he was turning his attention to my boyfriend and Zera. He had something sparkly in his pants. It looked like a potion bottle. I reached for it but I didn't quite grab it. I thumbed the top of it off and the bottle started fizzing.

"What?" Vendil asked as he snapped his head around. When he looked at me, he growled. He slashed at me but I managed to jump back in time.

I laughed as he reached for the potion in his back. "What's the matter?" I stuck my tongue out at him. "Mad that you can't touch me because I'm too young for you?"

He looked at me with furious eyes. "What is wrong with you?" He only had time to ask before the alchemist fire on his back exploded. White fire rained down his back and he screamed in horror as he was melted alive. He slashed madly at me as he ran for the pool of water. His sword smacked me across my chest and I lost most of the feeling in my body.

"Vess!" Seth screamed as he walked up to me. He reached for my chest, and I hoped that for a second that he was going to try to take advantage of me while I was incapable of fighting him. Doubtful. He wasn't like Talvas. He would never do anything without my permission. He paused for a second. "Um…Vess. My healing arts only work if I'm touching. Do I have permission to touch you?"

"Gods yes!" I screamed to him and grabbed his arms. I practically pulled his hands on my chest as I reached up to kiss him. He seemed a little taken off guard by that. He didn't pull his hand away though. I started feeling the healing energy of Restoration running through me and I could feel the presence of alcohol starting to fade away. I looked up to see Seth still holding his hand on my chest, but the buzz of being drunk was already fading away. "Ugh…" I started rubbing the pain from my eyes. "I'm so hungover." I could feel the world pounding down on me.

Seth smiled. "You know…Talvas told me what you're like when you're drunk. Told me to watch out for it. Never knew just how bad you could be."

I groaned. "Please, shut up." His voice was making my head hurt.

There was a loud scream from the pool and a large charred Vendil rose from the steaming pool with a vengeance. He pulled out a bottle of already cooking alchemist fire and threw it directly at us. Sanguine was quick to the draw and jumped in front of us. There was a large explosion….

….

[Zeratah]

I watched in horror as my brother and his girlfriend disappeared into a flash of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared, they both were lying unconscious, my brother on top of Vessy. Even Sanguine was gone. Neither Seth nor Vessy was moving. I was all alone. I looked to the pool to see that evil man looking right at me. He growled as he stepped out of the pool, picking his huge sword up. "You know… at times like this… I really wonder if they truly prepare us for the hardships of assassinating children." He walked right up to me. "I mean… I've killed adults. Easy targets. It's always the children. So…lucky." He slashed at me. I managed to step back and his blade barely skimmed my uniform. "See?" He almost laughed as he slashed at me again.

"I've got you!" Kyuu shouted as something slammed into Vendil's back. There was a small explosion and the man snapped back. I looked past him to see Kyuu standing seven feet tall with long claws and nine large flicking tails all flicking with Frost.

Vendil turned his attention to Kyuu, but I couldn't let him get away with just fighting him. I knew magicka! I looked down to see Vessy's lightning staff lying on the ground near me. I bent down and picked it up. Vessy taught me a little about martial arts, but I didn't know a lot. So… I would have to improvise. I aimed the staff for Vendil and willed the staff to do its thing. Lightning blasted off the staff, flying right past Vendil's head and into the stonework on the other side of the room. It tore some of the wall apart, but didn't do much to hurt Vendil. He stopped his attack at Kyuu and turned his attention back to me. His eyes were filled with blood-lust.

He stuck his hand out at Kyuu and grunted. Kyuu was thrown off his feet and into the wall with enough force to create an impact crater. What the heck did he just do to Kyuu? He snapped the same hand at me and smirked. He grunted again and I felt something slam into me. Next thing I knew, I was on my back and out of breath. The room spun around me and I didn't know what to do. _Summon me!_ I heard a light voice coo into my head.

What? Where did that come from?_ Where do you think? Jeez… and Kyuute told me you were smart._ Was… was that Tatianna? _Bingo! Now… summon me! I can help!_ Summon? I didn't know how to do that. _Sure you do! It's… um… vroom vroom magic, right?_

_That's right._ I heard Kyuu's voice in my head along with Tatianna's. Oh… is this what Vessy goes through every day? I wouldn't mind this so much. I heard Kyuu laugh in my head, along with Tatianna.

I looked up to see that Vendil man halfway over to me. He was already pulling out a vial of alchemist fire and popping the lid off. Ok… I really needed to get this thing started. What do I do? _Hmm…_ Tatianna said. _Um… Have you tried working turning your magicka off and back on again?_ Kyuu laughed at the joke but I didn't have time for this. I was going to die! _Ok, fine! Jeez! Just, well… for us it's second nature. Just…_

_Tatianna, I got this._ Kyuu was inside my head again. _Just create a ball of portal magicka. And you can make one by just willing your magicka to take form of one. Now, visualize your soul connecting with Tatianna's. Then… will her to travel through the portal magicka. And voila! She'll pop up!_

I did as Kyuu said and formed a pall of intention. I willed Tatianna to travel through the portal to help me. Vendil was just tossing the cooking alchemist fire at me when I let the portal rip open. The alchemist fire exploded and I covered my eyes. I felt the heat wash over me. Oh no! I was too slow.

"Hahaha!" Tatianna screamed as she leaped out of the portal. She was a tiny thing, only coming up to my knee at best. She was all yellow with an orange dress that looked like a summer leaf caught on fire. She had bright orange hair that looked like an open flame. As soon as she jumped out of the portal, she waved her hands around. The fire spreading all around me started flowing like they were part of her. She waved her hands and spun around. The fire collected around her and formed into a large ball that surrounded her.

She paused to look at Vendil. "You should never hurt little girls." She said as she took off like a firefly. She slammed into Vendil's chest with all that fire surrounding her. She burned right through his chest in a matter of seconds and flew out his other side. As soon as she blasted out his other side, she let the fire die off. Vendil stumbled off his feet as he reached for his chest. He fell to the ground, still gasping for air. When Vendil finally stopped breathing, Tatianna crossed her small arms and smiled at me. "Hi! I'm Tatianna. You must be Zeratah!"

I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for helping."

She waved it off. "Oh, that was nothing. So, will you make a contract with me?"

I nodded. "Of course! You'll be my first spirit ally."

She smiled at that. "Good." She looked at Kyuu. "So…you still available?"

He smiled at that. "Really? I thought you were with that Frost Sprite."

She shrugged it off. "He gave me the cold shoulder too much."

"I'm finally here!" Captain Veleth said as he charged into the room with the rest of the Redoran guard behind him. "What happened here?"

I smiled. "My spirit and I killed Vendil."

"What about the rest of the Ulens?" Captain Veleth asked.

I shrugged. "Tilisu was kissed to sleep. She's near the entrance. And Mirri helped us. She's not evil."

Captain Veleth nodded. "I'll hold you to that." He looked at Vessy and my brother. He looked at Kyuu. "You should heal everyone so we can get a move on."

Tatianna smirked. "I can help with that… if you want my help." She looked at Kyuu, giving him her best cute girl stance. I should know… Vessy does it a lot with my brother.

Kyuu smiled from ear to ear. "Of course!" Aww!

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Yeah! Tatianna is now in the story. And I wished I could have shown some of what Zera can do, but since this is her first mission, I didn't want her going all badass on the first try. She'll get there. but this story isn't about her, it's about Veselle. Although we might see other scenes like this where either Seth or her will have to fight in her stead.._

_Oh, and Ruby makes a cameo next chapter. i will get that up tomorrow_


	35. Ruby Arrives!

**Cearbhail**:

_Finally, Ruby!  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 15th of Sun's Dusk. It's been five days since we ended the assassination plot against Councilor Morvayn. I woke up with a wicked headache today. I didn't recognize the room I was in until I saw Seth sleeping in chair beside me. When I called to him, he opened his eyes and filled me in on what was going on. I guess I've been out cold for five days, and we've been using the Severin Manor as our healing chamber. Huh… it's weird, sleeping for five days in a house I technically died in. My entire body is wrapped up in bandages, and I sure hope the stinging I feel is not indication that I was burned alive or something. If I look like a wrinkly zombie… I will probably go to the Ulen Tomb and piss in Vendil's ashes. And maybe take a crap too. He will have deserved being covered in that for the rest of his afterlife if he ruined my skin._

_So, anyway, Seth pretty much filled me in on all the stuff I had missed the past five days. We were both horribly burned by the alchemist fire that fell down on top of us. Sanguine jumped in the way and protected us from being melted alive. The heat of the explosion did scald our skin a little. We had blisters and horrible heat rashes. Mother spent the last couple days healing us. Seth was just released from intensive care yesterday. Apparently, I've been drifting in and out of sleep the past five days. And while we slept and recovered, Zera was learning how to create Conjuration magicka and practicing combat combos with her new spirit: Tatianna. I can't wait to meet her. I hear she's quite the little fireball. Pun intended._

_Mirri is alive. Kyuu got to her in time to heal her stab wound before she completely bled out. She was in bed for a couple days while she recovered the rest of her injuries. Most of them were mental though. Her mother's alive but locked away in prison. She's going to be taken to Blacklight to face her trial of conspiracy to kill the Councilor of Raven Rock. Mirri is in the clear. She was offered to stay here and train to become a guard for Raven Rock. She turned them down, stating that she'd rather serve House Telvanni as a battlemage. So… we have a new addition to our little town. Mirri Ulen… the first Ulen Telvanni battlemage. She's planning on giving her house over to Raven Rock to do with whatever they want. She doesn't even want any of the stuff inside the house with the exclusion of the usual stuff we have in our rooms back home in Tel Mithryn: alchemy table, enchanting circles… a bed. You know, the usual._

_Anyway, I need to see the damage for myself. I can't just lie in this bed anymore. I need to do something._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

Seth was busy doing his physical therapy to pay any attention to me. Mom had come in and escorted him out of the room to do practice his walking. That gave me plenty of time to sit up. My body was tense, my breath short, and my muscles too stiff to move or bend anything. It took me a few seconds to push myself up, and then it took me a few more to push myself to the edge of the bed. I had ended up in Mirri's old room. The room was painted pink with yellow butterflies. Giant stuffed bears and stuff were sitting across the whole room. I remember playing with a few of these bears once or twice when I came over here to talk to Mirri in the past.

As soon as I swung my legs out past the bed, I felt them touch the floor. Ok… I still have feeling. That's a good thing. I groaned as I pushed myself up, supporting my own weight on creaky knees. I almost stumbled and fell, but I reached out and planted my hand on the wall in front of me. I saw my staff sitting in front of me, my personal staff. I reached out for it, taking it in my hand and pulling it over to me. I pushed hard against it as I started using it as a walking staff. I dragged myself clumsily over to the mirror. It took me a second, but I was finally there. My hair looked completely normal but the rest of me looked pretty weird. Of course, it was because every inch of me below my neck was covered in bandages. I took a deep breath as I reached for the bow tie towards my waist. I undid the bow and the wrapping started loosening. I took a few seconds to undo my bandages.

It took a few minutes, but I got them off. And then I got some underwear on. Mom left me some clothes if I ever needed them. As soon as I got something on, I looked in the mirror again. It was much easier to move without those bandages covering every inch of me. Other than the scrunched look of my skin from being covered in tight bandages, I looked just fine. Not an inch of me looked scarred or marred in any way. I bet Kyuu had done something to me to keep me safe. He would. My muscles felt pretty weak though, but not walking for five days will do that to you.

I finally decided to get myself dressed and started for the door. Before I left, I made sure that I stepped in front of the mirror again as I did my twintails. As soon as I walked out of the room, I could see Teldryn waiting for me. He nodded to me as I looked over at him. I saluted him mockingly. "Good job, Battlemage Teldryn. Mission: Protect Cute Girl is accomplished. You may return to your other duties."

He grunted a laugh, which was odd for me to hear. I've never heard him talk. And he still refused to do so. He just handed me a note that looked prewritten and given to him. I took the note and opened it up.

_Dear Veselle,_

_I'm well-aware that you are recovering and may be out for a few days, but I cannot wait for you to recover before finding out what this Miraak is. So, I've taken my students up to northern part of the island to find this Skaal village. We will learn what we can about this island and report what we learn. Stay in Raven Rock and heal up. And if you really wish to do something productive, I've called in a shaman to look at the structure surrounding the Earth Stone. She's supposed to meet up with Ildari to have her take on what's going on around town. Since you and the Vedes children have had more exposure to the stone's influence, I suspect that she'll want to talk to you too._

_Do take care and don't strain yourself._

_Lord Neloth Maryon._

_…_

I folded the note up and nodded to Teldryn. "Thanks, Tel."

He grunted at the nickname I made for him, nodding to me as he stepped away. He mock saluted me as he walked away.

"Hey, wait." I said to him. He paused and turned to look at me. "Why don't you ever talk?"

He grunted something and pulled out a quill. He passed me a note and I looked at it. _Words have power… and some people's words have more._ He left it at that and turned around. He walked off, silently humming a song to himself. Huh… I never thought of it like that. Did he have some sort of magicka voice thing going on? I wonder if I'd ever see him use it.

I smiled as I crumped the note up and tossed it in the trashcan outside Mirri's old room. I started walking towards the meditation room where I could hear Seth groaning in pain. As I came up to the room, I saw Seth stretching his arms in the air while trying to do a split with his legs. Mom was walking around him, running her hands across his body's aura. "Hmm, your muscles seem to be regaining their elasticity. This is good, that means your body is returning to normal." She looked from him over to me. "Well, Veselle. Shall we start your physical therapy? A couple days, I wager, before you'll be able to do any real stretching."

Seth tried to nod, but it was hard for him. "Yeah… if your body's anything like mine… your muscles are one giant cluster of tightness."

I shrugged and looked to Mom. "I heard from Dad that there's a shaman coming to visit."

She nodded. "She's already here. Wanted to wait for you to wake up before she began her investigation."

"What? Why?" Why would the shaman want to speak to me?

Mom placed her hands on her hip and tilted her head to the side. "You were the one that told us about the Stone being corrupted. You met Hermaeus Mora. She's interested in what you can possibly tell her before she begins her investigation of the Earth Stone. She's talking to Zera and Mirri in the master bedroom right now."

I nodded. "Ok, I'll go talk to her then." Mirri was here too? Well, where else did she have to go? Was she mad that I was put in her room? Where did she sleep the past five days? I tried to move quickly down the hallway but my legs were still pretty weak. My steps were awkward and heavy, not to mention my knees didn't feel like bending. They creaked with the effort of walking and I wondered if I had somehow destroyed any cartilage in my knees during my last fight.

"So, if I got this all correct… the only thing you remember is feeling like you were dreaming. You were watching yourself walk around, but you weren't in control of your actions. You were in a blurry dream and felt disconnected from yourself." A heard a deep scratchy Khajiit call from inside the master bedroom. "That's very interesting." She said. "I wish I could have brought my friend Samantha with me. She knows about this stuff more than I do." I knocked on the door. "It's open." The Khajiit called from the other side.

I pushed the door open and walked inside. Sitting in a chair was a Khajiit I swear I'd seen before. It took me a second, but I remembered her! I saw her in Riften the day I was almost killed. I could never forget her. When I first saw her in Riften, she had light purple hair with bright blue highlights and tips. Now it was a light blue with light purple tips. She was a lot taller though. She was just as tall as my mom was. I was just a little shorter than Mom. So… the Khajiit that was once shorter than me was now taller. Huh… I hope I haven't stopped growing yet.

And that wasn't all I knew about her. She was the crystal shaman that helped the High King on his quest to kill Alduin. Ruby Stonearm. That was her name. And that's all I really knew about her. Someone famous visiting us? That was something that didn't happen often. I sure hope she's as nice as she was depicted in the Chronicles Series.

As Ruby looked over at me, her face broke into a wide smile. "Hey, it's you!" She said as she waved to me. She ran up to me, grabbing on my hands and giving them a good shake. "I remember you! You're that girl that dressed like I did back when I was a slave!"

"What?" What was she talking about?

Her smile faded, replaced by ruffled fur. Did I upset her? "Oh… sorry." She said with a hint of an embarrassed chuckle. "You were sleeping when I saw you." She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Your Master said something about you burning through your clothes or something and you had to wrap yourself up in your blanket because you had no clothes." I had to really control my emotions before I exploded with fire magicka. I think Ruby could feel my emotions coming to an explosive conclusion because she stepped away from me. "Sorry… did I upset you?"

I shook my head. "Nothing like that. I'm just…easily embarrassed."

She nodded. "Ok, I think I can understand that." She waved for me to join Zera on the bed. "Mind if I ask you some questions about what you experienced the night the town was possessed?" I nodded and limped over to the bed to join Zera. Ruby watched me as I walked. "What's wrong with you?"

"I was on the wrong end of an alchemist fire five days ago. I've been healing and resting for five days, and my body's a little stiff from not moving around too much." Not to mention being tightly wrapped up like a mummy too.

"I'm a healer, you know." Ruby said as she joined us on the bed. "I can get your muscles to loosen up."

I shrugged. "I'm ok with that, but can we get done with this debrief first?"

She nodded, jumping onto the bed with enough force to nearly throw me off. I struggled to stay sitting up, and I did thanks to Zera wrapping her arms around me to keep me up. "So… what do you want to know?" I asked her as she pulled out a pad and quill.

Ruby sat there for a few seconds before tapping the quill on her chin. "I heard from Zera that she felt like she was in a dream where she couldn't control anything she did… but was able to see herself doing it. She told me that you were not affected. Do you know why you weren't affected?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"Did anything feel off before people started acting weird?"

I nodded. "I've experienced the feeling of true darkness before." I looked over at her. "The calling of sentient energy calling me, watching me… trying to compel me to find it, and seize it. Well, just a week before this town was hit by the possession spell, I had noticed that the energy I had felt before was back, stronger than ever. I felt it in a ruin once, but this time…it was everywhere. I couldn't place it though. I didn't know it was that malevolent energy. I thought it was just Gwen messing with me."

"Gwen's the psychotic bitch, right?" Ruby asked with a straight face.

"What? How do you know about her?" Didn't she just get here? Did she meet Father and the others before they went north to the Skaal village?

Ruby looked over at Zera. "Zeratah told me about her." Oh, of course. Zera was scared of Gwen, probably more than I was.

I nodded to Ruby's question. "Yeah, she's pretty messed up."

"So, you noticed this energy before. Where?"

"In a Black Book." I didn't expect her to know what that was, so I was prepared to tell her what I did know of it. Too bad that knowledge was very limited.

"Oh… one of those." She said. She reached over her shoulder and pulled out a backpack. She opened it up and reached inside. She pulled her hand out, and she was holding onto a Black Book.

I almost jumped back as she shoved the Black Book towards me. "Where did you get that?"

She shrugged. "My friend Samantha found it one day. She refuses to open it. Thinks it's dangerous." She ran her hands across the cover. She finally nodded. "Ok, I can feel it now. Yeah… it's pretty dark." She looked over at me. "And you've been feeling something like this the past two weeks?"

I had to remember that I was out cold for a week before I nodded. "Yeah."

"So… let's talk about what happened after the incident started. Give me your story about what happened that night."

I had to think about it. "I was with my family, facing charges of treason. But even then, I could tell something was off. There was this feeling of someone watching us, pulling the strings of everyone's actions and emotions… pushing everything to one specific event. Then, I was forced to find some assassins that were trying to kill Councilor Morvayn. And when we started our investigation, my friends started acting weird. They started saying this phrase… like a mantra. And they repeated it while they started walking over to the giant rock outside the town."

"A mantra?" Ruby rubbed her chin in thought. "A soulic verse, perhaps?" She growled out loud, her ears folding back. "Dammit, Samantha! Why can't you be here instead of me?!" She hissed out loud before looking over at me. She smiled and held up her hand apologetically. "Sorry. My friend was supposed to come here with me, but she was needed in Solitude, so I had to come here alone. She knows all about this older Soulic verse stuff. I'm better at crystals and vibrations and stuff."

"Then why not just look at the rock?" Zera asked.

Ruby's tail flicked as her expression went blank. "Huh…" She looked away from us. "That's crazy. So crazy… that it just might work!" She stood up and nodded to us. "Ok, we're going to look at this stone. You, silent girl!" Ruby shouted to the corner of the room where Mirri sat in a fetal position, her arms wrapped around her legs. She looked up at Ruby for a second before looking back down. "You coming with us?" Mirri only shook her head and placed it on her knees as she sat there in the corner of the room. "Suit yourself." She looked back over at us. "Let's go. Show me where this giant rock is."

Ruby helped me off the bed. I took the lead and started walking for the door. I looked over at Mirri as I came up to the exit. She didn't look at me. She was still trying to ignore all of us. I felt sorry for her. I know what it's like to lose your parent. Brand-Shei was dead and back when I thought he was my father, it had destroyed me inside to know that he wasn't coming back. As I looked at Mirri as she sat there in the corner of the room, I knew exactly what was running in her head. That was me for about a month before I snapped out of it. I nodded to her as we headed out the door.

Ruby was right behind me, looking at Mirri as we left. "What's wrong with her?" She asked as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Remember what I told you about fighting assassins?"

"Yeah."

"Her father was the leader."

"Oh." That was all Ruby said. I heard a low growl in the back of her throat, but she didn't say anything past that. We walked in silence the rest of the way. The town was pretty much back to normal. Although I didn't get to see much of it. Severin Manor was the closest building to the giant rock. It was a short walk before we actually arrived at the sight. The giant rock was surrounded by these wicked looking spines made out of ebony surrounding the rock. As soon as Ruby saw them, she screamed out in surprise. "Whoa!" She cried out as she broke out into a run over to the pillars. She stood there for a second, her tail dropping to the ground. "Now, that's something I don't see every day." She ran her hand over the spines. "Daedric in design."

She looked back at me and I shrugged. "Ok, so what's that mean?"

"A Daedra Lord is trying to do something." Ruby replied as she looked around at the spines sticking out around the stone. "But what exactly?" She seemed to move in a trance as she walked around the stone. She didn't talk for maybe fifteen minutes. She just walked around the structure, touching stuff, sniffing the air… anything you can think of. She even put her hand on the ground and stayed like that for a few minutes.

Zera looked over at me. "What's she doing?"

I shrugged. "Well… when I work on enchanted weapons and whatnot, if I want to know what it's enchanted with, I have to focus on every inch of the weapon to see if it's enchanted with something. However, I have no idea what Ruby is doing."

"I'm trying to determine if there is any sort of trap on the structure." She called over to us as she ran her hand across one of the spines. "There is some powerful Daedric energy built up around these spines. It was built for one very specific purpose." She pointed to the giant rock. "This giant rock is one giant amplification of Aedric magicka. It's a holy stone that is used to connect one to the gods. This structure is somehow using the rock's holy amplification powers to enhance the powers of a Daedric Lord. I don't know which Daedra Lord is trying to create more power for itself, but that's what it's doing."

A Daedra Lord was trying to gather more power? Could it be Sanguine? The way he popped up, I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind something.

"I've felt this particular energy before too." Ruby said, rubbing her chin. "It was a long time ago." She continued to think about it for a long time before shrugging. "I can't think of who it is." She looked over at me. "I know this is a long shot, but do you know any Daedra Lords that might be involved?"

I thought of Sanguine and Hermaeus Mora. So, I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. There is this Daedra Lord I just met like… five days. His name is Sanguine."

Ruby shook her head. "That drunkard? No, this is not his doing."

"Tentacle Rape Monster?" I shrugged.

She chuckled at that. "You call him that too? You talking about that giant eyeball with tentacles?" I nodded. She paused and turned back to giant rock. She closed her eyes, running her hands over everything. "Wait… that's exactly where I remember feeling this!" She looked back at me. "This one time, I was in his home… during a war between the Dreugh and the Lamia."

"The what and the what?" Who were they?

She waved it off like it didn't matter. "Long story. Anyway, I remember feeling this exact pressure inside his realm. He was a weird personality." She shrugged it off. "But… why would the Lord of Fate need more power?" She looked over at me. "Any thoughts at all?"

I shook my head. "No. He seemed powerful enough to make everyone in this town drop what they were doing to build this amplification stone."

Ruby stood there for a minute, thinking of something she was missing. She finally growled and started running her hands in her long blue hair. "This is so confusing!" She finally sighed and looked at me. "Ok… I guess I'm going to be staying here for a while, at least until I can tell your Master what we've learned."

I nodded back to her. "Ok. Do you need someplace to sleep?"

She nodded. "That would be a good place to start." Good, I missed having a roommate.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, and... just one more thing. I looked over the calendar to see if there are any special holidays coming up. On the 20th of Sun's Dusk there is the Warrior's Festival. Now... normally this is celebrated by reduced prices for armor and weapons. But... House Redoran will be doing things... a little differently. Everyone, pay close attention. On the day of 20th Sun's Dusk, there will be a tournament. Veselle and Ruby will both be competing. As well as Seth and Mirri. Mhuahahaha!  
_


	36. Physical Therapy

**Cearbhail**:

_You know, there have been times where I write stuff and I go... man... that escalated quickly. And sometimes, I say 'Wow... that was intense.' And today... I shook my head and said, "Why? Why did I write this?" Not in a bad way, just... of all the things I could focus my chapter on, I focus on this? Man... you'll see. It's intense, and in the most non-intense way.  
_

__Oh...and enjoy. ^^  
__

* * *

_Dear dairy of shadows,_

_Today is the 16th of Sun's Dusk. We're still hanging around Raven Rock in the old Severin Manor. So, things that have happened in the past 24 hours. I started my physical therapy. My muscles are pretty tight, and it hurts to do anything above walking. Shooting magicka is out of the picture for right now. I tried to make a simple fireball and it felt like my whole arm exploded into fire. I talked to Mom about it. She told me that I had exhausted my aura, or something like that. She called it a 'burnout'. It's when my body's incapable of using any more of my mana to produce magicka. I don't fully understand, but she says I will recover in a week's time if I take it easy. Anything magical I try to do will only make my condition worse, and above that, I could end up killing myself if I try too hard._

_Ruby overheard us and she decided to help my burnout by healing my aura with crystals. I don't know how I feel about that. She calls herself a healer, but what I read about her did not mention her ever healing anyone on the quest to kill Alduin. She mostly just made new stuff to help with the fights, and had some sort of wavering relationship with that Argonian boy Maleek. I'm glad he didn't come to this island. I know Talvas pretty well… and I know that Shadow Agents from Black Marsh killed his family… as well as most of mine. All of House Telvanni fell to the Shadow Agents from Black Marsh. I was pretty young when it happened; if I ever saw it myself, I don't know. All I know is that if Maleek walked into our tower, he would probably be met with a lot of hostility. I have no problem with him, but Talvas. Him… I don't know how he'll feel about Maleek walking in here. I'd like to meet him, myself._

_So… I have some physical therapy to get to. And then I don't really know. I don't know when Dad is coming back, or if he is at all. Gods… what will I do if Dad doesn't return? I guess Mom will just have to take care of our family. Wouldn't be the first time._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I sighed as I pushed myself out of bed. Since Ruby moved in with us for the time being, she moved into the same room I was sleeping in. She purred in her sleep. And it was so soft and rhythmic that it kept me sleep all night. Best sleep I've had in years. When I woke up, Ruby was already out of the room. The room was pretty dark, but that meant nothing. There were no windows since the whole floor was underground. And that meant that even if the sun was up, I wouldn't be able to see the rays of light poking through anything. I groaned as I tried to sit up. My body throbbed with pain, unlike it did yesterday. Maybe moving around had made my muscles sore. What can I expect? According to Mom, my body was totally ruined just a week ago. It was a miracle that I had recovered at all.

Once I was on my feet, I could feel my lungs taking in air again. My chest hurt, and breathing hurt even worse. What did I do last night? I only sparred with Seth as part of our physical therapy. Every punch sent ripples of pain throughout my body. I could feel every muscle twitch when I blocked, every muscle strain when I reached out for a punch, and everywhere in between was throbbing in pain. Seth was just in as much pain as I was, and I could see it in his eyes last night. If I was in this much pain, he was in worse. How long did I have to sit like this before I recovered from this? Can't do martial arts, can't use magicka. What the shab am I going to do with myself?

I held my breath as I started taking my sleeping dress off. It hurt just to lift my arms. Don't get me started on pulling my dress over my head. Talk about torture. If getting my clothes off was hard, I couldn't even begin to wonder how hard it would be to put more clothes on. I took a moment to just sit down before I looked at my folded robes. Damn tradition among my family. Hakama and keikogi. Not to mention the undershirt and the over-robes. Jeez… too much to do just to get dressed. Looking next to my formal black and gray robes, I saw a simple blue dress. Intrigued, I reached for it and pulled it up. It was more or less my size, and Dunmeri in design. I shrugged and held my breath as I threw the dress on. There was a pretty belt that seemed to go with the dress so I put it on too.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The dress fit me perfectly and the belt just made the whole thing look so much cuter. I looked around and found a pair of slip on boots. Putting those on was so easy that I almost laughed at how fast I had gotten dressed today. I finally opened the door and walked outside to see Mom waiting for me. "Good. I wasn't sure if my old dress would fit you or not." She nodded at me. "It looks good on you. Come, follow me." She started to walk upstairs. I tried my best to jog to catch up to her, but with every step I took, I felt my muscles bouncing inside of me, and it did not feel pleasant.

Mom looked back at me, all sympathy on her face. "Trust me, Veselle. I know what it's like to have your body fight you. You just have to keep taking one more step forward and you'll overcome this."

Was this what it was like for Mom every day for the past 8 years? I could not begin to imagine what that might have been like. She was not just fighting her body but also her mind. And she ended up losing. I wonder just how long she had held on before she couldn't hold it any longer. I found myself shaking my head. "I don't even know where to begin."

She smiled and reached out to pat me on the shoulder, just stopping an inch short. "You begin by climbing these stairs. One…step…at a time." I looked up the staircase to see Seth halfway up. He was bent over, taking deep breaths. Then he groaned and lifted his leg. His leg looked like it was so heavy, so burdened, that he could barely lift it. He managed to thump his foot on the next step and he nearly fell over in pain. He screamed in agony as he reached out in front of him to catch himself while he fell. He hit the stairs pretty hard, and he screamed in even more pain. Zera and Ruby watched from the top step. Zera was trying her best to hold back her tears, while Ruby just stood up there with her arms crossed. A look of pride was apparent in her eyes, and she nodded to Seth as he started pushing himself back up. He wobbled for a second and almost took a step backwards. But then he swung that same foot forward and slammed it on the next step. He was more than halfway up.

I looked at Mom and she nodded to me, directing me to the staircase with her hands. Ok, Vess. Time to climb some stairs. Talk about your biggest challenge yet. Dragon Priests shooting lightning at you: easy. Making out with Talvas: sorta easy. Taking on your psychotic mother and her deranged apprentice while ash spawn try to kill you: moderately simple. Let's climb some stairs… how hard can it be?

I lifted my first leg onto the stair. I felt nothing weird. Ok… so… was Seth just too beat up from last night to do anything? This was simple. So…I tried to push my leg up so I could place my other leg on the stair above it. And… my leg wouldn't move. My thigh muscle tried to push my weight up and…nothing. The only thing I did get was a sharp pain in my leg that ran up my side. My breath suddenly halted and my body shivered when the pain passed all the way up to my neck. What the heck was going on? I couldn't even take the first step! As I stood there and tried to catch my breath, I managed to say, "What the heck?", through gritted teeth.

Mother nodded. "The first step is often the hardest to overcome." She nodded to me. "But once you take it, you cannot stop. Not for anything in the world. Do you understand, daughter? This is your trial. You must overcome it if you are to continue to grow." She didn't say anything further as she just stood there and watched me with patient eyes.

I glanced up at Ruby and Zera. They were both looking at me with warm smiles and cheers. I grit my teeth as I threw my bodyweight forward, pushing with everything I had. My leg screaming in protest, I managed to push myself up, my other leg coming up. My foot caught on the second step and I let my breath escape. My body shivered and wobbled for a second. I looked ahead to see Seth taking another step forward, much like his last one he took. I could see tiny waves of blue flames pulling off his body, like it was fueling him. His flames of love… Was he thinking of me? Was he doing this for me?

Even as I thought it, small waves of blue flame started to show through my aura. I looked down to see the tiny sliver of flames pouring off me. Instead of exhausting me like my fireball from yesterday did, these flames seemed to invigorate me. They were the source of my feelings for Seth. If he would fight for me… I would fight for him. We were in this together. I screamed a kiai as I pushed with everything I had. My legs screamed as I threw myself forward. My vision blurred, my ears pounded with blood. I didn't focus on anything. I just kept pushing, kept moving. And then I felt my arms wrap around something warm. I embraced it and felt that warmth comfort me. I let the world catch up to me. I was standing next to Seth, on the last two steps. We were supporting each other.

"Vess… you ok?" He asked as he kept me from falling forward. I almost blacked out there for a second. Seth had held me up and kept me steady.

As my breath started to come back to me, I managed to nod my head. "Yeah." I wrapped my arm underneath Seth's arms. "We'll push each other up, ok?"

He nodded and wrapped his arm around me as well. "We'll go on three. Ready? One, two…" He grunted as he started to push me and him up. I helped push myself and him up as we both took a step forward.

"Three!" We both screamed as we took our step. And we just had one more to get through. I looked at him; he looked at me. We both nodded. "One…two…three!" We screamed in unison as we threw ourselves up the stairs. By now, our two blue flames were intertwined, forming one massive blue flame that we used as our fuel to push us up. And we cleared the final step. Then we crumbled on the floor. Well, I crumbled; Seth just fell down with me. I hit the floor, Seth landed beside me. I don't know how long we lied like that. Could have been minutes, could have been hours. Could have been all day. I didn't have it in me to stand up though. Man… that was tough! Those stairs really were my biggest challenge yet.

I don't know when Seth started laughing, but once he started, I couldn't help myself. It hurt to laugh, but I couldn't stop myself from doing it. And then we both started laughing even harder. I tried my best to roll over to see him, but it hurt too much to move. I finally sighed as I relaxed every muscle I had. "Seth?"

"Yeah?" He asked from beside me.

"I love you so much right now." I turned my head to look at him.

He was looking at me with strained eyes, like he was getting ready to pass out. "I love ya too." He said right before his eyes shut. I heard him groan before he started his light snore nap breathing thing.

Ruby popped up over top of me somewhere. "Aww, that's so cute. The way you two clung to each other the whole way up the stairs." She grinned as she pulled out a small clear crystal. "Now, hold still." She said as she placed the crystal down on top of me. She took a step back and stuck her hand out at the crystal. With a grunt from Ruby, I felt the small crystal on top of me spring to life. Vibrations I'd never felt before passed through my body and I felt the majority of the pain in my body dissipate. It became easier to breathe. After a minute of this, I felt relaxed and ready to sit up. As soon as Ruby took the crystal off my chest, I sat right up. Very slight pain, like it was yesterday.

I pushed myself up on my feet, my legs lightly reminding me that they were not fully stretched out yet. "Wow…" I said as I clenched my fist and threw a punch. It didn't hurt as bad as it did yesterday when I threw one. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

She looked at me and smiled. "I wanted to see if you were willing to help yourself first." She placed the crystal on Seth and repeated the same process. I just stood there and watched. I've worked on Destruction and Conjuration magicka for a year now. I've tried Alteration, Illusion, and Restoration. All those things I suck at. Alchemy sucks too. Too much thinking involved. Too much precision for ingredients. I almost blew up my room trying to make a healing potion. And that's impossible to do! And if you're asking which one was impossible… both. It's impossible to make something explosive out of the ingredients used for healing potions. And for me… it's impossible to brew healing potions. Any potions! Except instant tanner. I'm good at tanning potions. If tanning makes your skin break out in hives, anyway. I'm not better at Restoration than I am Alchemy. I've tried to heal people before, but I usually just end up hurting them. I'm just not programmed to heal.

I looked from Ruby to Zera. She smiled at me, rushing up to hug me. "You did it!" She screamed to me as she crashed into me. She almost bowled me over too. She looked at me with wide eyes, nearly crying. "It looked so painful. I'm so sorry."

I forced a smile and I hugged her close. "The worst is behind me." Boy, I hope that's the truth. I'd hate to think that something worse comes after that.

"Don't sit for too long. We have to do your stretches now." Mother announced from the staircase as she walked up to join us on the main floor.

Stretches? Like what Seth was doing yesterday? My stomach made a large growl sound and I was suddenly reminded that my body required food to function. My stomach was loud enough that everyone in the house heard me too. Mom rolled her eyes before saying, "Ok, ok. We'll get something to eat while we wait." She looked around the main floor. "The Ulens took all their food with them when fled the house, so we'll have to go to the cornerclub if we want to eat anything." She rubbed the back of her head. "Why I haven't bought groceries yet is beyond me."

Seth took a deep breath as he suddenly sat up, coughing. He took a few deep breaths, and then looked at his hands. "What? I feel good as new!"

Ruby smiled and picked her crystal off the floor. "You're welcome." She said as she looked at Mother. "So, what's for lunch?"

Mom looked around before holding up a finger. "Just wait one second." She raced down stairs, leaving us just standing there. A minute later, she ran back upstairs with her arms wrapped around Mirri like she was a baby. "Ok, let's go get lunch."

I looked at the blank expression Mirri had. Mirri looked pretty weak today. Did she even eat the past six days? She looked so much skinnier than she did when I fought her. That thought scared me. Mirri was one of my friends. If she was letting herself waste away… and I couldn't help her… what kind of friend was I?

I waved to Mirri when she glanced towards me. She shifted her glance away and I felt like I was failing her. I forced the feeling away as I looked over at Ruby and Seth. Seth looked just as saddened I was at Mirri's expression, while Ruby looked indifferent. Huh… not an expression I would have guessed she could have carried. I followed Mother out the door with Seth locked in my arms, Ruby and Zera following behind us. As soon as I walked outside, I could see Teldryn waiting for us in his usual manner, leaning against the house next to the doorway. As soon as Mother started heading out towards the cornerclub, Teldryn followed beside her, actually taking Mirri from her and carrying her.

The town looked pretty active today. There were guards out with practice swords, all fighting each other in team battles and whatnot. I had never seen them train so diligently before. It was a curious thing. Maybe the assassination attempt plus losing their minds to a Daedra Lord put them all on alert. Huh… I guess it had to happen sometime. I had paused to see a few members of Cute Girl Squad practice their combat skills but I as soon as I felt Seth pulling on my arm, I quickly returned to walking over to the cornerclub.

Mom held the door open for me as we walked inside. Teldryn already had two tables put together for us as we all sat down. I made sure to sit down next to Mirri. She sat there quietly as we all took our seats. I waved my hand in front of Mirri's face, which drew a slight glance towards me.

I tried to smile at her. "Hey." I nudged her with my arm. "What's up?"

She redirected her gaze back to napkin in front of her. I mentally punched myself. Hey, what's up? That's the best I could come up with? Gods, that was a stupid thing to say.

Ruby looked from me over to Mirri. I could hear a slight growl in her throat and her tail flicked. What was getting her riled up? Did she hate Mirri for some reason? "Hey, silent girl." Ruby called from in front of Mirri. Mirri glanced up at Ruby for a second, and held a glance at her for a second before looking back down. Ruby actually growled and slammed her hands on the table, making it shift. I almost jumped back, it was so sudden and loud. Everyone in the cornerclub turned to look at us. I looked up at Ruby to see that her eyes had started turning red. Red? Khajiits don't have red eyes… they're usually purple, blue, amber or white, but never red. "What's your name?" Ruby asked Mirri. When Mirri didn't answer her, I thought for certain that Ruby was going to stand up and slash at her with her claws.

"Mirri!" I said to Ruby, which made her sit back down as she started to rise to her feet. "Her name is Mirri."

Ruby looked at me for a second, her red eyes glaring at me next. "Thanks… um…" She scratched her head. "Veselle, right?" I nodded. She turned her gaze from me over to Mirri. "Mirri. … Look at me." When Mirri didn't lift her head, Ruby growled and slammed her fist on the table again. "Fierfekla kyramud! I understand your all in mirjahaal and all, but your friend is trying to help you! The least you could do is talk to her!"

Mirri looked up at Ruby for a second. "Shut up." She managed to say.

Ruby smirked. "Oh, she can talk after all. Can you talk to your friends? They seem eager to talk to you." Mirri managed to push herself up away from the table. The look in her eyes wasn't all that friendly. Ruby noticed it too. Ruby pushed herself out of her table. "Oh, are we going to do this? Please let me get to slap some sense into you."

Mother was up before either of them could do anything. She stuck her hands out at both of them and they froze as the green Paralyze spell wrapped around them. "We do _not_ fight at the dinner table, children."

Just as she said that, a bartender walked over to us. "Welcome to the Retching Netch Cornerclub. How may I serve you?"

Mom looked over at Ruby and Mirri. "I will let you two go now, and you will _sit_ and _eat_ like good children, or so help me I will bend you over my knee and make you both wish you had your parents here instead of me." She dropped the spell and both Ruby and Mirri fell back into their seats. She glared at both of them for a second before saying, "I will have the ash yam salad with the light Imperial dressing on the side to eat and a glass of your finest wine, if you would be so kind."

The bartender nodded and looked at Ruby. She shrugged. "Rare steak and some moon milk."

The bartender laughed at that. "We have two kinds of moon milk. Hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic."

Ruby scoffed. "Non, please."

The bartender turned to look at Mirri. "And for you miss?"

When Mirri didn't answer, Mother answered for her. "She'll have ash mountain rolls and some water."

The bartender was about to ask me for my order, but I heard two members of Cute Girl Squad come through the door. They were laughing as they complemented each other. I knew those faces: they were Starah and Thrin.

"You almost had me this time." Starah said to Thrin as they picked out a table next to us. "Keep training like that and you'll be ready for the Warrior's Festival." The what? I looked over at them.

Thrin smiled at Starah, nodding. "Thanks for helping me, Starah. I don't think I'd last one round in the tournament without your help. You'll probably win though. Your father always won the tournaments, didn't he?"

Starah chuckled. "Well, Dad is the captain of the guard after all. What do you expect?" What? Her father was Captain Veleth? I didn't know that. And what tournament?

It drew Ruby's attention too. "Excuse me. Did you mention a tournament?"

Thrin and Starah both looked at us. Starah was the one that nodded. "Yeah. Every 20th of Sun's Dusk there's a tournament in honor of the Warriors Festival. Why?"

Ruby growled as she looked over at Mirri. "Want to settle this in the tournament?"

Mirri's eyes narrowed as she glared at Ruby. "Yeah." She nodded.

I looked from Ruby over to Seth. He was thinking the same thing I was. We couldn't let them fight each other. We had to enter the tournament too. What if I ended up fighting Mirri though? I couldn't beat her last time; what made me think I could beat her this time? And if I did fight her, would it be as her friend or would she officially stop being my friend at that time? I had no answer, but I had to keep Ruby and Mirri from killing each other. Ok, Vess. Time to play peacekeeper… by kicking everyone's butt!

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, Ruby and Mirri are going to fight each other? Yeah! And Vess is going to try to keep them from doing it. With only four days until the tournament, she will have to heal her body quickly. Too bad she'll be busy doing something other than training. Like... fighting a dragon priest. And ... I shouldn't ruin the surprise, but the tournament will have a special guest. Like Sanguine only... you know... likes to fight. Mhuahahaha!  
_


	37. Registration

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok, so things to know about this chapter. it's all about Ruby and Veselle. Ok, and go. Oh... and surprise guest. I hope you figure it out before I make the reveal later on. I love being transparent, but it's hard when I have to hide things from my characters, even if I can be as obvious as possible and still have them running around in circles to figure it out.  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 17th of Sun's Dusk. Yesterday was pretty intense. Um… what to say about it? Well, I learned that climbing stairs is perhaps the toughest thing to do in the world. I mean, I can fight some of the toughest things on this planet and conjure gods… but climbing stairs almost killed me yesterday. But, I managed to climb the stairs with Seth helping me the whole way. We helped each other. I don't care what others say, that's true love. After we finished climbing the stairs, Ruby and Zera were waiting for us. Ruby healed our pain and whatever physical wounds we had with her crystals, and Zera cheered us on for completing our training for the day. Mother treated us to lunch at the cornerclub. It was there that Ruby and Mirri got in a fight. I don't really know why they're fighting, but it's pretty serious. Once we found out that on the 20th that there will be a martial arts tournament, Ruby and Mirri both stated that they were going to settle their fight in the ring. And, because I don't want to see either of them get hurt, and because I kind of want to fight them both just to see how well I stack up to them, I will be joining the tournament as well. The registration is today, so we'll all be going down to enter the tournament._

_Well, if nothing else, Mirri is back to normal. Ever since Ruby and she decided to fight each other in the tournament, Mirri's been eating again, and training in her dojo room. Ruby seems happier as well, as if she finally has something fun to do. I'm going to ask her about it when I get the chance. Right now, Ruby is combing her hair out before she braids it. I don't want to disturb her while she's doing that; it looks like a complicated braid. As for me, my muscles still feel pretty tight, but not as bad as yesterday. I can at least train. And I plan on it._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

I closed my diary of shadows, looking over at Ruby. She was still combing out her long blue hair. I still wondered why she actually dyed her hair. It couldn't be easy keeping it that shade of color. Even though Ruby was deeply concentrating on beginning her braid, she had time to see me looking at her. She smiled through her clenched teeth. "What's up, Veselle?"

I shrugged. "It's just… why dye your hair?"

"First off… it's a mane. Secondly, I dye it because I love the color. I'm trying to find a way to keep it permanently changed. I'm really close to creating a permanent dye. Besides…" She stopped talking long enough to focus on her braid for a couple seconds before looking over at me. "My boyfriend, Maleek… he's an Argonian. I don't know if you've met Argonians before, but they have these beautiful colored feathers on top of their heads. Magenta, blue, green, yellow… many various colors and combinations. And I wanted Maleek to notice me, so I dyed my mane. And it worked. My blue eyes worked well with my blue mane, and giving it lavender tips made it stand out even more. Maleek loves my mane, so I keep it this way. I'm sure he loves me for me now, but I still love what this mane color means for me." She looked over at me. "I could ask you why you like putting your hair up in two pigtails every morning, but I'm guessing it's not for any guy."

I smiled in return, acting just like her when I said, "First off, they're not pigtails; they're twintails. And I put them up because…" Wait… why did I put them up? I found myself shrugging. "Well, I started putting them up because I hated having my shorter hair dancing on my neck, and having a ponytail wasn't any better. Twintails keep my hair off my neck and away from my eyes, so that's why I did it."

"A braid on one side would do the same thing." Ruby replied happily. She continued braiding her mane, clenching her teeth as she concentrated on it. Jeez, so much work for one braid. "I can see that look in your eyes. This is a special braid. My dad showed it to me. It's the same braid my mom used to wear in her mane. Dad says I look so much like her that he knows I took of my looks from her." She looked over at me, smiling as she said it.

Ruby didn't have a mother? Oh, that's right. I read that in the Chronicles Series. She was an orphan adopted by High Queen Lydia. I didn't know she had a dad though. That was never mentioned in the Chronicles. "You have a dad? You mean the High King?"

Ruby shook her head. "Nah. It turned out that M'aiq was my dad the whole time." M'aiq? That monk that traveled with High King Asger? Wow… I did not see that coming.

"Wow. What did it feel like, finding your father?" I swung myself over to the edge of my bed as I listened to her talk.

Ruby shrugged. "Well, I guess it was weird, you know? This man you've known for a while ends up being your father. Can you imagine how it felt to know someone you kind of detested and then found out later that he was your father?" I didn't have to think very hard about that. All I had to do was think of my dad… and I suddenly understood how she must have felt. Ruby smiled as she scanned my face. "Oh… so you do know what it's like. Tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine." She said as she finished up her braid.

I shrugged as I reached for my diary of shadows. "Well… when I was five or something, my mother died from a failed experiment. Except…. She didn't really die, she just turned evil. She tried to take me from my father when I started showing signs of turning into a mage. Father did not know that she was actually alive, and so when she attacked his house to steal me away, he protected me and my sister. He managed to drive her away, but not before stating that she would always hunt me. So… Dad took me to Riften and had Karliah and Mjoll take care of me."

"Oh! That's where I've seen you before!" She pointed at me like she finally knew who I was. "I saw you the day Maleek and I killed Mehrunes Dagon infested Maven Black-Briar."

I nodded. "Yeah, that was me. Well, Dad convinced a Dunmer guy to watch over me. To keep me safe, Dad suppressed my magicka and erased my memory. That day when Mehrunes Maven attacked Riften… that man who pretended to be my dad died… and I was on my own. Now… my real dad and this fake dad were always talking to each other. So, I always knew Neloth, even if I didn't know he was my real father. When he found out my surrogate father was dead, he told me to come to his tower, and he would teach me magicka. Well, I came here and he started teaching me magicka. And then Mom found me and kidnapped me under threats of killing everyone I loved… like Seth and Zera."

Ruby nodded. "Typical. But… I've seen her in this house. She seems like a great person."

I nodded. "She is, and even then… she was too. She was being corrupted by a heart stone, which was driving her crazy. And she was fighting it while using me to find a cure. She needed someone alive to test the heart stones on so that she could find a way to get rid of the corrupting effects of the heart stone. While I was doing this, she helped unblock all my memories that had been erased from me. I remembered everything that had happened to me, and how Neloth was really my father the whole time. And when I was able to fix Mom and we all reunited as a big happy family… there was still some tension between Dad and me. We were pretty… um… distant for a couple months until you know… he made the first move. We kind of went out on a father daughter thing and… well… we're ok now."

Ruby burst out laughing, rolling onto her back and kicking her legs in the air as she laughed uncontrollably. "Oh man… that's just like what happened with me." She was quick to sit up, smiling as she said, "Well, my story begins when I was three, right? I guess I had talked my parents into taking me to the sugar cane fields to get some moon sugar for a birthday cake. Well, we ran into a few bandits and they killed my mom." Ruby shrugged and shook her head. She was silent for a few seconds before she looked back up at me. "And then they almost killed my Dad, M'aiq. They took me, stuffed me in a cage, and then took me to a slave camp, where I spent the next 10 or 11 years doing all sorts of stuff rated higher than "M" that I shouldn't talk about."

Stuff rated higher than "M"? What kind of stuff was that? "Like?"

Ruby smiled, laughing as she kicked her feet out. "Oh my gods… someone who will actually listen. Well, like… this one day, in slave camp, this guy name Kim, he was this really perverted guy. Now, I was 8 or something but that didn't matter to him. You see, he had this thing for lemon wedges, dogs, and flutes. So, he decided that he would…"

"Excuse me!" Mirri said as she barged into our room. Her face was burning red as she looked at us. "I do not approve of this! There are children playing just one room over, and I don't think Zera should be exposed to this topic." Oh boy… she really does not know what I say around Zera then, does she? "Stop talking about it!"

Ruby's ears drooped. "Oh, fine." She looked over at me, winking. "I'll tell you later." She whispered to me.

Mirri glared at Ruby for a few seconds, and Ruby only smiled as she returned the glare. "I won't lose." Ruby growled to her.

"You will." Mirri stated as she turned around and stormed out of the room.

Ruby dropped her glare and looked over at me. "Ok, so… shall we finish the story?" When I nodded, Ruby looked towards the doorway. "Well, without scarring Zera and Mirri for life, I spent those ten years doing stuff I shouldn't talk about. I met this awesome friend named Ashana. And we escaped together. And you know what happened after that, I'm guessing."

I nodded. "I read the Chronicles Series. You got separated from her and you ended up being adopted by High Queen Lydia."

Ruby nodded. "Right. So, you also know about that day we were helping the Lamia, the day I was taken by a pirate ship. The day Maleek saved my life?" I nodded. I remembered that part. "That guy, Ranjier, he was the one that killed my mother and my father. He was the slaver that raised me to be what I was. He got away before Maleek could kill him, and he found me in Solitude. This was a couple months after Asger was crowned High King. Well, he kidnapped me and tried to put me back into slavery. It only worked because he used the threat of killing my friends against me… just like your mom did with you." She shook her head. "Using people against us… so dishonorable."

Wow. Ruby was more like me than I thought. "That… so what happened to you?"

She shrugged. "I had a rough couple days, not going to lie. Kim was back, and everyone took their turns breaking in my body. I was eventually freed by Ysolda, who was coming by to buy a slave. When she saw me, she knew she had to free me. So, she bought me. She took me to Rimmen to get me passage to Skyrim. Ranjier tracked us down, and almost killed Ysolda and her husband Ralof. Ranjier didn't get me though. Pantu saved me. And I saved a local boy named Ksaan… who ended up being my brother. Ralof and Ysolda got on a ship and took me to Skyrim. Maleek found me in Solitude and told me about his long journey to find me. We made out for like a day before he told me that Ksaan was my brother. And I had found out from Ksaan that his dad was M'aiq so… I put two and two together. When M'aiq came by to see if I was ok… I played with him. I knew he was my dad, but he didn't know that I knew. So… I forced him to take me on a 'cultural excursion' which was nothing more to me than a father daughter date, under the pretenses that I wanted to know more about Khajiits. My real reason was to make M'aiq admit that he was my father while torturing him as much as possible."

Ruby laughed as she stood up from the bed, checking out her complicated braid in the mirror. "So, what happened?"

She looked over at me once she knew her braid was perfect. "M'aiq broke me first. I let it slip that I knew he was my dad, but we had a great time regardless. Since it was out in the open, I was able to actually connect with him. He told me about mom, and all the stuff we did as a family, how he met her… all that stuff, you know? And it felt good. It was like this missing part of me was finally filled, some mystery revealed. And as I started learning more and more about her, I realized just how much like her I really am. Every time I do this braid, it's like I'm with her, like she's still watching over me. That's why I braid my mane." She paused as she looked over at me. She finally smiled and crossed her arms. "Well… we're just very chatty with each other, aren't we? If I didn't know any better, I would think we've been friends for a long time."

I shrugged. "I don't mind talking. I like meeting new people."

She nodded. "Me too. Haven't met a lot of people that I actually hate."

That made me wonder why she hated Mirri so much. "So… why do you hate Mirri then?"

Ruby's smile dropped and her tail flicked. "Who says I do?" She spoke so lightly that I was sure that no one but me could hear her right now. Before I could say anything, Ruby reached for her katana and slipped it over her shoulder. "Look, Veselle. I want you to know something. I don't hate Mirri, but I do have my reasons for pushing her. When I see her, I see my old friend Ashana. Ashana gave up too, but I didn't let her lie down and die. I pushed her to keep going… and I lost her. I never saw her again. Maybe I pushed her too hard, or maybe she just got tired of being around me. Either way, I can't stand seeing people giving up on their lives. And that's what I see in Mirri. I see a broken person who's giving up. And you're just like me… keeping her going, or trying to anyway. And it's going to kill you if you see her just disappear one day. I won't have that. And Mirri's a fighter, I can tell. If getting her to fight me is the only way to bring her back, then dammit, I will be her enemy if only for a week. And it's working. Mirri is eating again… training… pushing herself so that she can kick my butt. I'll probably let her too if we make it to finals. But… if you were to fight her instead, you can bet I'd love to watch that match. She won't fully make a recovery fighting me… but if her friend fought for her… that just might do it."

I was speechless until Ruby patted me on the shoulder. I found myself nodding. "Umm… thanks."

She returned another smile as she headed for the door of the bedroom. "We don't want to be late for the signup."

Ruby raced on ahead of me, gracefully jumping up the staircase that almost killed me yesterday. I paused to look at the staircase. Could I even walk up this staircase? My muscles felt worlds better, but I was still very sore. I took a deep breath as I started walking towards the staircase, only stopping once I heard Mirri scream out. The sound was coming from the training dojo. I turned my attention away from the staircase and walked over to the dojo. Mirri was inside, slamming her palms into one of the training dummies. Her hands were glowing with light blue magicka that looked loosely like flames magicka. Mirri screamed a kiai before flashing at the dummy. I watched as her palms slammed down on the training doll so quickly that I could barely track them. Mirri flowed around the doll, slamming her elbow on the back of the head. She spun herself around and delivered a roundhouse kick that actually broke the head off the dummy. The head flew clear from the dummy and landed near me, rolling until I could see its face. It was carved to look just like Ruby. That made me feel sick inside.

Mirri saw me standing near the entrance. She paused for a second before bowing to me. "Veselle. Do you need something from me?"

I was still looking down at the lifeless eyes of the Ruby head. I shook the image of seeing her dead from my head as I looked up at Mirri. "Um… the registration for the tournament is today. Ruby and I are going to sign up. Do you want to join us?"

Mirri's eyes sharpened. "Ruby and you have grown quite close, haven't you?"

I shrugged. "Well…um…"

Mirri walked over to me, shouldering me as she walked out of the room. "If I have to fight you to get to her… I will not hold back."

I actually smiled as I turned to look her in the eye. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get."

Mirri actually smiled a bit before heading for the staircase. "See you at the registration desk." She was just as quick as Ruby was going up. My body ached at the thought of even taking one step up that staircase. Jeez… how am I possibly going to beat them? Mirri was a trained assassin, and Ruby was a trained Blade. Both were experienced warriors, but I'm just trained in martial arts. Could I even keep up with them? Oh gods… how was I even going to fight? I could barely move my body. But… I couldn't just sit out and watch them kill each other. And if Ruby let herself lose, Mirri might opt for killing her. I couldn't have that!

"Vess." Seth said as he walked out of his room. I turned and waved to him as he walked out to meet me. He wasn't limping as bad as he was yesterday, so that was good news for us.

I took a deep breath, feeling my chest and back twinge in pain as I did so. "Hey, Seth. Sleep well?"

"Well, I did have these horrible dreams about these two girls talking about their past to each other." He tried to hold a laugh as he walked up. "Zera was very interested in the story about the lemon wedge… I had to cover her ears."

I shrugged. "Well, Mirri stopped Ruby from telling me about it." I nodded to Seth towards the staircase. "Think we can get up it today?"

He looked at the staircase, wincing as he looked at it. "Well, I thought I could do it yesterday, but you really can't tell until you're already walking up it." He kissed me before walking over to the staircase. "I'll find out for us." He planted his first foot down and with a grunt, pushed himself up a stair. He seemed to hold his breath as he started walking up the staircase, faster than he did yesterday. When he reached the top, he turned to look down at me. He gave me a thumbs-up, saying, "It's not too hard today."

I tried my best to run over to the staircase, but my legs were still pretty stiff. I was quick to lose my breath before I even got to the staircase. Now, Ruby and Mirri both ran up this thing like they floating. I had to do the same thing. So, I braced myself as I pushed off the first step, pushing myself past three steps in the process. My foot caught on the second step and before I knew it, I was face-planting on the fifth step, almost smashing my nose in the process.

"Vess!" Seth cried as he struggled to run down the staircase. He managed to trip like I had and he rolled down the stairs until he crashed down on top of me. That pushed whatever air I had left in me out. Seth was trying his best to roll off me, but it wasn't as easy as either of us had thought. And I couldn't breathe while he was on top of me like this.

"Brother?" Zera called out as she walked out of the room. I managed to look at her as she looked at us. She looked confused for a second before she finally nodded and headed back to her room. "Ok, I'll leave you two alone."

"Zera! It's not like that!" Seth cried as he tried to push himself off me. He finally rolled off me and fell straight to the ground. He hit pretty hard, crying out in pain. "Ow…" He stayed like that for a few seconds before looking up at me. "Sorry 'bout that."

I pushed myself off the stairs, pushing myself back to my feet. My head spun as I did so. "My fault. I should have taken my time." But I just want to be as fast as Ruby and Mirri. I guess I couldn't push myself too fast. I will get there; I just have to be patient.

Seth pushed himself up as well. "You're fine, Vess." He rushed as he joined me on the staircase. We linked arms as we took a deep breath and helped pushed each other up the staircase again. It was a lot easier this time. I could actually focus on keeping Seth close to me as we pushed our way up the staircase. By the time we made it up the staircase, I was out of breath. That didn't matter to me though. I made it up. It was a lot easier today than it was yesterday. And I had Seth with me. He made every second of this bearable.

As soon as we made it up, I looked at him. We stared at each other for a second before we kissed. That lasted for a few seconds before I remembered the registration. I pulled my lips away from his, saying, "Seth! We have to sign up for the tournament."

"We?" He asked. "Vess… I can't fight like you can. I'm just going to watch."

He wasn't joining with me? I thought he was going to join with me. "But… I thought." I stopped myself from finishing my thought. What did I think? Did I think that Seth was going to push himself into a tournament to keep Ruby from fighting Mirri? Or did I expect him to be as enthused about a fighting tournament as I was? Seth was a gentle person, and while he did like sparring with me, he just didn't care too much about fighting.

Seth looked at me for a few seconds. "This means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

I shrugged. "I don't like the idea of Ruby fighting Mirri."

He finally nodded. "Ok, I getcha. I'll help any way I can."

We kissed again briefly before rushing out to the town. The registration desk for the tournament was already set up near the center of town. There were plenty of guards standing around, signing their names. There were a couple people I have never seen before standing around. Teldryn was also signing his name in. What? He's going to be joining the tournament? That would be awesome to see him fight. But, there was this one tallish Dunmer woman that stood out among everyone. She didn't have red eyes like the rest of us; she had purple eyes like Karliah. She had what looked like Telvanni robes on, but at the chest level, she only had one half of the robes. It looked like the gi turned into one giant sleeve that flowed down her left arm, exposing her whole right side. Her chest was wrapped with training wraps so I guess it wasn't like she was exposing herself or anything. She had really lean arms, strong looking shoulders, and spiky hair pulled back in a ponytail that was sticking out everywhere. Over her shoulder was one giant sword, so long that it looked as long as her body.

When I saw her, she looked over at me with really sharp eyes. She was chewing on a toothpick, but that didn't stop her from looking at me. "Well… aren't you a little spitfire?" She asked as she twirled the toothpick around her mouth. "You signing up for the tournament too?"

I nodded as I walked past her. "Yeah. It sounds like fun." Councilor Morvayn was sitting behind the registration desk, making sure everyone signed in their names correctly.

The woman smirked as she eyed me. "It will be. I'll see to it." She turned around, cutting in front of me. "Think I'll join after all." She said to Councilor Morvayn.

Councilor Morvayn looked from her over to me. He knew that she had just cut in front of me, but he just put up a smile before saying, "Very well, ma'am. May I ask your name?"

She scoffed. "Just call me Thiah. T. H. I. A. H." She turned to look at me. "I look forward to seeing you in the finals."

Councilor Morvayn looked up at her and then over to me. "Now, hold on. Don't go making predictions you can't hold up to. We have some of the toughest warriors in Tamriel here with us today. You are someone we've never seen at the tournament before, so don't go saying stuff that might get you in trouble."

She looked at Councilor Morvayn for a second before chuckling. "I want to fight them all… at the same time… in the preliminaries. Got it?" Her eyes glowed for a second and it took a few seconds before Councilor Morvayn finally nodded.

He shrugged as he placed her name on a special sheet. "So, you want to join the battle royale then? Only our most experienced warriors join that prelim."

She nodded. "Yeah, I want that. I might need the warmup." When he finally signed her name in for the battle royale, she turned to look at me. She seemed to be scanning me for something. She finally smirked and nodded to me. "I look forward to seeing you in the finals, Veselle." She said my name as finality and turned around. I watched her as she walked away.

Seth looked at me as he joined me. "Vess? Is that a friend of yours?"

I shrugged. "Um… not that I know of. Maybe she knows Mjoll or Karliah?" I looked over at him. He shrugged as well. Well, thinking of it wasn't going to do anything more than make my head hurt. I turned to look at Councilor Morvayn. "I'd like to sign up for the tournament."

He looked at me and then over to Thiah. "Think that's a good idea?" He shuddered at seeing her, sighing. "She does not look like your normal contestant and… well… I think she might be here for blood. Just something about her that makes me think that she's dangerous."

I nodded. "Mirri and Ruby are going to kill each other if I don't join. Seth and I are going to stop them."

Councilor Morvayn nodded. "Oh, those two. Yeah, they were fighting each other to sign up first. Your mother put them both in timeout." He pointed over to the farm. When I looked, I could see both Ruby and Mirri sitting in the fetal position while Mom berated them. Wow… both Mirri and Ruby might be badasses, but they paled in comparison to my mom. She had them both quivering in fear of her ever since yesterday. If I can handle my mom's training, perhaps I stood a chance after all.

I looked at Seth, smiling. "We might be able to pull this off after all."

Seth smiled in return. "You know, Vess. You just might be right." I better be. I didn't want to lose my friends over it.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Anyone want to take a shot at figuring out who my surprise guest is yet? I would love for someone to actually know what I have planned before I reveal it.  
_


	38. Chasm

**Cearbhail**:

_So... everyone... my finals for this semester are finally over. And now... I graduate in three days. I think I achieved my 3.0 goal and got mostly A's on all my finals, so... that's something. I'm finally free to write as much as I want, until I find a job anyway. Hope you enjoy the new chapter. A lot of stuff is going on that I expect you to figure out. And you should have by now. I'm not hiding anything, it's all out in the open if you think about it.  
_

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Well, today's been pretty bland, but it had its good moments. I got to talk to Ruby, like really talk you know? She told me about her past, kind of. It was more like we traded stories, and I learned that we're alike in a lot of ways. We both have parent issues and had our moments where we bonded with our fathers. Other than all that, I ended up at the registration desk with Seth. We managed to join the tournament before Ruby or Mirri, since both of them were punished by Mom for acting like children again. I did more physical therapy with Mom while waiting for Dad to return. Other than all that, I don't have much going on. I summoned Kyuu to help me heal but his Heal Beam is only doing so much at this point. Ruby loved him though. She thought he was the cutest little thing ever summoned. He loved the attention too. Well, anyway, I have some stuff to do, I guess. I just wish I had something to do other than physical therapy. I'm getting bored of just sitting here in Raven Rock._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

So, since I had nothing to do after completing my physical therapy, I decided to stand outside and watch members of the Cute Girl Squad train. Starah was trying her best to get Thrin ready for the tournament. She was really pushing into him, slashing with her elven sword so quickly and precisely that Thrin had no time to react. He was pretty sloppy, but anyone fighting a sword master like Starah looked pretty sloppy. She just wouldn't stop as she slashed at his armor, hitting every spot she could. "Don't drop your guard!" She slashed at his wrist plates.

Thrin tried to move back but as soon as he pulled his arms back Starah's sword flashed up to his throat, brushing the soft spot where his armor was weakest. It took Thrin a full second before noticing it was there. He tripped on his feet and fell on his knees. "Gods, Starah. You have to be careful with that thing."

Starah pulled her sword back, flashily flipping it up in the air. She reached for the scabbard on her belt, pulling it out just a little. "I am careful with this sword. I train so I never hurt anyone with it, unless I need to." Her sword continued to fly in the air but as it started to fall, it landed right in her scabbard, sheathing perfectly. After her sword was secured, she bent down to take Thrin's hand. "If you want to get past the prelims you're going to have to do better." She took his hand and started pulling him back up. "Now, get a drink and meet me back here in five. We'll do some more."

"Jeez, if you keep this up, I won't have enough strength to compete." Thrin complained as he pulled his helmet off.

"You'll compete." She said with a hint of a laugh. "Or I'll kill you."

I wasn't the only one watching the two guards train. Thiah was watching from nearby the registration table. When she heard Starah threaten Thrin, she let out a loud laugh. "Oh, the joys of forcing your boyfriend to fight."

Starah almost jumped out of her armor at the word 'boyfriend'. She quickly turned to look over at Thiah. "What? No… it's not like that."

Thiah only nodded certain that she was correct. "Oh, I'm sure it's not…" She said sarcastically as she started to walk away.

Seth was sitting next to me the whole time. When he heard what Thiah said, he glanced at me with what could have been dead-panned eyes. "Remind you of anyone?"

I shrugged. "Not really. Thiah's pretty weird."

He nudged me with his shoulder. "I was talking about what she said about Starah. You know… making your boyfriend fight? Now… what was that condition you forced me to agree to before you began dating me?" He tapped his chin. "Oh… right. I had to spar with you once a date… and I recall you didn't hold back much either."

One of us had to go all out… I thought sourly as I looked over at him, forcing a smile. "And you tried so hard to score a point on me." I kissed him on the cheek, winking at him. "And look where it's gotten you. You're a fighter now, like me… only less badass."

"And yet, I'm still fighting in a tournament." He sighed.

"Are you now?" Hearing Dad's voice right behind me made me jump to my feet. And boy did my body scream in pain at me as it did so. I stumbled and fell right back down, Seth reaching out to catch me, failing badly. The two of us ended up on the ground groaning in pain as we rolled off out stomachs.

I turned to look up at Dad. "Dad? You're back?"

He nodded. "I am." I looked around for Talvas or Gwen. I didn't see either of them. Did they go back home or something? I was hoping to at least say hi to them. I hadn't seen Talvas in a long time, it felt like. I tried to push myself on my feet but my body had stiffened up while sitting here. Getting up was not so easy for me. When Dad saw me squirming on the ground, he shook his head. "Still healing then?"

I nodded, trying my best to push myself back on my feet. "Yeah, still healing."

Dad shook his head, pacing around me and Seth. "Too bad, I need you in fighting form. I've learned some things while I was chatting with the shaman in the Skaal village. It turns out that Miraak is actually a Dragonborn, one of the strongest ever known. He made a deal with Hermeaus Mora to learn how to bend dragons and people to his will in exchange for his soul. Now Miraak is a slave of Hermeaus Mora, but it seems Miraak has found out a way to escape from Hermeaus' realm. I've also talked to the Ruby girl. She told me about the stone and its purpose. The fact that Hermeaus Mora is involved does not surprise me. The fact that Miraak is using his bend will powers to control the populace is also not surprising. We should prepare for war. Hermeaus Mora is involved somehow, I just know it. Miraak would not simply be able to do as he pleases without the God of Fate and Knowledge knowing about it. I have a bad feeling about this, Veselle. And if you're not ready… I fear the worst."

"So, you're finally here, Neloth." I heard Thiah call as she walked over to us.

Dad looked over at her. He actually look surprised. "What… why are you here?"

She smiled. "The Warrior's Festival. Why wouldn't I be here?"

Dad almost chuckled at the thought. Did he know her somehow? "Typical. But… for you to be here, when we've had tournaments before without your involvement… there must be something else going on."

"Indeed. And I have a quest I'd like your children to complete." She smirked as she looked over at me. "And this is of the utmost importance to you as well. I think we both can benefit from this venture."

Dad's eyes shot up. "You need help? But… you never need help."

"Like I said… it benefits us all." She smirked. "I would like you to join us too. To help investigate the ruin. My enemy is making his move, and I need to make moves too. And you're one of my next moves."

"Does that mean that…"

She nodded. "It has begun. The three have come back to power and we've reclaimed our thrones. Redoran, Telvanni, and Hlaalu must fight as one to prevent destruction."

"The Hlaalu are traitors." Dad stated.

"Not anymore." She looked over at Mirri. "With the redemption of Mirri Ulen, the House Hlaalu has redeemed itself to the Council of Three. I wish for Mirri to join us as well. I have chosen her."

"Are you sure?" Dad looked over at Mirri too. "Of all people, she should be chosen by…"

"Mirri is the one I want to join us on our _quest_. Spider wants her too, but She can have her mother." Thiah completed her thought for Dad. "I know who Mirri is, and that's exactly why I want her. Now, gather your team. I want Veselle and Mirri, as well as you. If you decline…"

"No need. I know better than to offend you. I meant no disrespect, but I find it odd that you need help." Dad shook his hands, dismissing the very idea.

Thiah nodded. "It is not that I need help, but wish for you to see what it is you are dealing with. The war has begun, Neloth… and you know me. I revel in wartime. My enemy was dumb enough to make his move. And now… I will counter-attack. I'm not the only one. My allies have already begun their moves. I shall not mention who they are or what they are doing… and our enemy knows we are moving in response to their moves. However, our enemies will not last in this war. Before the hellfires of our wrath, they shall kneel to us in shame and ask for redemption before the end."

I looked up at Dad. "Um, Dad. Who is this? And what war?"

He looked down at me before looking up at Thiah. "What's your name this time?"

"Thiah." She stated with a shrug.

Dad almost chuckled. "Running out of aliases, are we _Thiah_?"

"Hold your tongue, Neloth, or I'll tell Dawn what you said and she will never speak to you ever again." Thiah turned her head away.

"No, please. Don't do something like that, Thiah." Dad actually sounded worried for a second. Who was Dawn? Who the heck was Thiah? What the heck was even going on? What war? Gods… I'm so lost right now that I didn't know what was going on anymore.

Thiah looked down at me, frowning. "Child, do try to keep up." She looked over at Dad. "Get ready to go. I wish to be at our campsite by sunset." Sunset was in ten minutes. Where were we going?

Dad turned to face us so quickly that his cape practically created a whirlwind of ash as he spun around to face us. "You heard Thiah. No time to pack. We're leaving." He turned to look at Mirri. "Mirri! Get over here! We're going on a quest."

She looked over at him. "Sir… I have training to do."

"You're a battlemage for House Telvanni, correct? I'm calling you into service." Dad screamed at her. "Now, come. We have things to do and no time to waste."

Mirri nodded. "Sure thing, Master Neloth. Do I have time to get armored up?"

He shook his head. "No. We'll go as we are. I do not suspect anything we cannot handle on our own." He looked at me. "Sorry, Veselle, but you must come as well. I know you haven't healed up, but I don't have a say in this."

I looked over at Thiah, who was already marching up to the bulwark leading us out of the town. "Um… ok… but… who is Thiah?"

He looked from me over to her. "If she did not tell you, I shall respect her wishes. Let's just say…she is a friend. She, Dawn, and Spider protected House Telvanni a long time ago, and now… she needs our help." Spider? There was another one? Who the heck was that? As Dad started following Thiah, I struggled to push myself after him. My legs were a little wobbly but I managed to keep up with him as he trudged off. Seth was right behind me, Mirri catching up a second later.

"What's going on?" Mirri asked as she jogged up beside me.

"I have no idea." I looked over at Mirri. "That woman Thiah needs our help for a quest. That's all I know."

Mirri looked from me to the tall woman. "She has a powerful aura."

"She does, doesn't she?" Ruby's voice came from the other side of me, which made me jump. When I snapped my head around, she was walking right beside me. Ruby smiled when I glanced at her. "Oh… I'm coming too."

"What? How?"

She pointed up at the roof of a nearby building. "Oh… you know… I was relaxing on top of that building and I overheard everything. So… I'm coming." She looked at Mirri. "Can't let Mirri have all the fun."

Mirri looked away. "You get in my way and you won't make it to the tournament."

Ruby pouted. "Now, that's no way to treat your mortal enemy. I should know… I'm engaged to mine."

I looked over at Mirri. She was still looking away from us so I looked back at Seth. "Are you sure you want to come with us? It might be dangerous."

Seth nodded. "Veselle, if I didn't go… what kind of guy would that make me? I stay at home while you go off and do something dangerous? What if you never returned? At least this way, we'll be together, no matter what happens."

Ruby sighed. "Wish _my_ fiancé would spend time with me." She mumbled under her breath.

With that, we spent the next few minutes just traveling in silence. Dad finally caught up to Thiah, but neither of them spoke the whole way down. Ever since we got Mom back from her heart stone poisoning, things on the island had grown pretty quiet. The reavers were leaving us alone now that they weren't being paid to create trouble, and Ash Spawn had stopped showing up so often. I think I saw some once in a while, but every time I saw them, they rushed off and hid. If the Red Mountain was up to something, I did not know what it was. I didn't even know if the Red Mountain could be up to something.

The entire walk, it seemed like we were walking back to Tel Mithryn. In fact, I could see the mushroom tower off in the distance. Jeez, we were walking all the way home or something? "The entrance is right down this fissure." Thiah called from the front. She pointed at the giant fissure. "The entrance has finally revealed itself, after thousands of years being covered up." She turned to look back at us. "Before we go in, you must know what we face. Down below in this tomb is a great evil that we must destroy… before it's too late."

"Before what's too late?" Ruby asked from my right side.

Thiah looked over at Ruby, arching her eyebrows. "Oh… you followed us." She nodded approvingly. "I cannot say too much. But we must move before it's too late." She didn't wait any longer before turning to the giant fissure. She hopped right down into the crack in the ground.

Dad didn't wait before looking back at us. "We should listen to her. Follow if you are able." He jumped down the fissure next.

Ruby growled but followed behind Dad. Mirri followed behind her before looking back at me. I looked over at Seth. I reached out for his hand, and he took it. We both walked up to the fissure slowly. I looked down, seeing nothing but pitch black beyond. I couldn't see anyone and I didn't hear them land either. I finally looked over at Seth. "Ready?"

He nodded. "As long as I'm with you… always."

He and I both jumped at the same time into the fissure. I was suddenly engulfed with pitch black. I held onto Seth's hand as tightly as I could as we were suddenly engulfed by wind rushing to meet my face. I honestly forgot that I was still wearing a dress instead of regular training robes, so I had to deal with that too with my other hand. We continued to fall for perhaps 10 or more seconds and my breath caught in my throat. The wind was so strong that I couldn't breathe easily. I held my breath as my heart began to race, focusing on Seth's hand to make sure we didn't get separated. That didn't stop my fear from causing my flames to erupt out of my body like a mini explosion. Seth cried in surprise for a second before fire blew up out of his body as well. Our two fires mingled together as we fell down the seemingly endless chasm. At least our flames were lighting the path for us as we fell. I could see enough to see that we were still falling. Man… this was a long fall.

When I couldn't take the fall any longer, I pulled myself closer to Seth, wrapping my arms about him and hugging him close to me. He hugged me back, and the two of us plunged together down the hole as a giant blue flame. I don't know how long we fell down, but we should have at least gotten close to where we were. I don't know. I had closed my eyes because I was sure that unless we hit water or something like a giant pile of ash… we were dead. So, I just held onto Seth as tightly as I could. I could feel his heart beating faster than my own.

"Veselle…" Dad's chastising voice was right beside me. I snapped my eyes open and looked behind me to see him standing there. He had his arms crossed. "For gods' sake, girl… do you think I'd just let us fall to our deaths? Look down."

I looked below me to see the same spell on the floor as the levitator we used in the tower. I was hovering just above the ground with Seth in my hands. I let my breath out with a sigh of relief. The levitator spell finally let us touch the ground, and I kissed Seth before letting go of him. "Thanks for keeping me company."

He just nodded, happy to have his feet on the ground as well. "Any time, Vess."

Ruby only sighed. "Seeing you two really makes me miss Maleek." She turned to look at Thiah. "Ok, we're all here. What's next?"

Thiah pointed down a narrow pathway to a door that looked like a dragon's head. "Now… the quest begins." She turned to the door and pushed it open. She and Neloth were the first to go through. Ruby and Mirri followed next, and finally it was me and Seth. When we got through the doorway, we weren't in a narrow chasm anymore, but a huge room. Sure, we were on a narrow walkway that led down to what looked like a giant blood arena with a closed gate. A giant fire in the gate, as well as lit fires nearby, kept the room perfectly lit. The room was huge; there was even a giant lake off in the distance.

Thiah paused by some giant pedestal. "A sacrifice will bring you closer to what you seek." Thiah led us down the stairs. "It would seem that we have to sacrifice someone in order to continue. Whoever it is must stand on the metal trap door and let the fires consume them." She paused as she looked down into the cinder pit. There was already a body inside it. "What?" She looked around, looking at two opened entrances, and then looking at the giant bridge made up of ancient magicka circles that looked like giant snowflakes. "They've figured it out. We must hurry."

Thiah broke off into a sprint, as sprint so fast that it looked inhuman. I'd never seen anymore move so quickly before. Dad quickly turned to us. "Don't just stand there! Move!" He took after Thiah, using some sort of Alteration spell to make himself faster.

Ruby growled as she reached for her diamond katana. "Something if off about this." She looked at us. "You three should just stay here. I don't think this is a normal quest after all." She broke off in a flash, passing Dad and catching up to Thiah.

I looked at Mirri and Seth. "Do you guys think we should go?"

Mirri nodded. "I will not let Ruby beat me here."

Seth shook his head. "Vess… something _is_ wrong here. And we're injured. We should just stay here and wait." But, if something was wrong… wouldn't we be needed after all? Trying to summon energy to my hands, all I did was cause some amount of pain to my arms. So, my burnout wasn't gone yet. But… I managed to create a flame while I was holding onto Seth's hand. I looked over at him, wondering why I could only use my magicka while near him now.

I finally shook my head. "I can't use magicka." I looked at Mirri. "Mirri… I have to stay here with Seth. Can you go by yourself?"

She nodded. "Yes, Veselle. I am not scared of this place." I looked around for a second. I felt that strong pressure of energy I always got from the black book. It was strong here. So… Hermeaus Mora was here then?

I looked over at Mirri. "You should be. There is something very wrong in this place."

Mirri bowed her head. "I understand, but I need to catch up with the others. If you feel able to join us, please do your best to catch up." She broke off into a sprint.

With just Seth and me in the room next to a bunch of lit fires to keep us warm, I couldn't help but feel like we were in a pretty romantic place. "So…" I reached for his hand. "Want to make out?"

He scoffed, shaking his head in wonder. "You would." That didn't stop him from kissing me. Oh yeah, definitely the best way to spend our time during this quest.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Next chapter will be in Mirri's perspective. Oh and... you better figure it out before I reveal it.  
_


	39. Thiah's Reason

**Cearbhail**:

_Ok everyone. I've graduated. And... just so you know: This chapter is all in Mirri's persepctive. OK? Every second of it. And, I know I've been keeping a lot of secrets, but now... SPOILERS so many fierfekla spoilers. If you still want to hide even a hint of what this entire Chronicles Series is about, don't read this chapter. I reveal everything, well mostly. It's still up in the air, but if you read this chapter, you'll start noticing little things that continuously happen. Remember that one chapter back in Chronicles of Lydia where Esbern makes a theory about dragons and dwemer? Well, take that theory and think of it as light bulb. And now... I created a giant lightning storm. Well, maybe. I was washing dishes when I thought of it and it all suddenly made sense... how everything had led to this moment, to this explanation. Everything I'd ever written for this series. I don't think I explained it thoroughly but it covers enough to remind me what I plan to unleash further on._

_Oh... and Veselle's perspective next chapter.  
_

* * *

_Dear mother,_

_I have received your letter of summons, but I don't want to meet you in person. I feel like our family has dissolved ever since father stabbed me in the chest. And the more I think about our family, and how I was raised, I have figured out something important._

_I don't know where or when we stopped being a family. All I've known my whole life was training with father and you to become an assassin. Every morning was meditation, training combat forms, learning mana strike-based martial arts, and weapon drills. But… that was my life, and that's what I knew. You tried your best to keep me away from other people so that I would never question the way I was treated. So…if I could meet you in person, I would ask you why I changed. Why… when the moment finally came to do everything I was prepared to do… did I suddenly decide to defy father? I have spent the last few days in quiet reflection to find out that answer, and I found it in an unlikely source… Veselle. She was my friend, one of my only friends. And… she, for the most part, showed me how to behave like a normal child. Of course, when I first met her, I thought she was too naïve, too happy to be a normal person. I thought she was the weird one, and that everyone else was raised more or less like me. But… I started going out of the house to hang out with other kids, even if there weren't many around, and the majority of them were in Tel Mithryn. While interacting with the residents of Raven Rock, I started noticing that I was the odd one. I was the one that acted cold and indifferent. Veselle helped show me that. I noticed it with how she interacted with her own parents. Even if she hated her father, she still treated him warmly, and her mother treated her with some amount of love and respect. I never got that kind of warmth from you, mother._

_So, am I upset that you're going to prison to face the charges of treason? Yes. Am I unhappy that I will no longer live with you? Yes. Would I stick up for you at your hearing? No. You clearly broke the law and tried to kill the Councilor of Raven Rock. You even tried to use me to achieve those same ends. I would be with you in prison right now if I didn't stand up to father. You used your own daughter with the knowledge that I would be sentenced and judged. Was I born just to become one of your assassins in your plot to kill Councilor Morvayn? I wasn't sure if I was right, but once father tried to execute me for disobeying him, I started figuring out that I was never truly his daughter, nor yours for that matter. I'm both glad and sad that he's dead. I am glad I wasn't awake to watch it happen, and I'm sad that I didn't get to kill him myself. If I saw him attack Veselle, I might have killed him myself. Veselle's been kinder to me than you or father have ever been. So, I renounce the name Ulen, for I am no longer of your family. Just like I have severed myself from your name, I shall keep the name Severin as a final insult to your memory. May the Blacklight council find you guilty and sentence you to Oblivion._

_Mirri Severin._

_…_

"Look, the astral bridges have already been activated." The strange woman Thiah called from the front. "We can't let them reach the last room." She was already running across a long bridge made up of some kind of glowing magical circles. Everyone was following behind her. I looked back at Veselle and Seth. They both were sticking back because they couldn't fight or summon any magicka to aid us. Just looking back, I could already see them making out. Well, I don't have to worry about them feeling left out. They looked just fine where they were.

I turned my way back to the bridge. I always had a fear of heights, and seeing this transparent bridge did not help at all. I watched as Thiah, Master Neloth, and Ruby all raced across the bridge without hesitating, so I pushed on ahead. My first step was hesitant but I felt it hit something as solid as ground, so that fear was quickly replaced with wanting to get the heck off the bridge as fast as possible. Looking over the bridge, I could see a pool of water filled with skeletons of people that apparently fell off the bridge some time ago. I forced myself to look away as I raced after Thiah.

"Who are 'they' and what are they trying to do?" The annoying Khajiit girl called from beside Thiah. I couldn't wait to face her in the tournament. I could tell she was strong, but that didn't matter to me. She intruded into my home and insulted me. She had to be punished for the things she said to me while being a guest in my house.

"The ones I am referring to are the agents of…" Thiah was suddenly cut off as the astral bridge disappeared from under her feet. I felt the solid matter of the bridge vanish as well. Do you know that feeling where your stomach rushes to your throat because you know you're about to fall to your death? That's the last thing I felt before I crashed into the murky water below. It wasn't a soft landing either. I fell pretty fast, and I ended up slamming my back not only onto the water, but onto the stone three feet underneath. I honestly should have died, but for some reason the thick water really slowed me down enough to where I was just barely broken. The water was quick to surround me as my vision faded away.

I don't know how long I was stuck in that murky water, but as soon as that water flowed into my lungs, I was thrashing as hard as I could to push myself up. A hand grasped my collar and pulled me up. My head broke the surface and I was quick to clear my lungs. I coughed for a few seconds before groaning out, "Thanks."

"No problem." The annoying Khajiit replied. As I looked up at her, she smiled down at me. It pissed me off.

I knocked her hand away. "I didn't ask for your help."

The annoying Khajiit only smirked like she knew how I was going to react. She turned around and unsheathed her crystalline katana. "Regardless, we need yours. There are a lot of skeletons trying to kill us." She didn't wait for me as she charged her way over to the walking skeleton warriors. I pushed myself out of the slimy water, rising back onto my feet. The annoying Khajiit was already spinning around, slashing at several skeletons with some sort of magicka that rolled off her sword. I didn't know she could fight so elegantly. Perhaps I was mistaken about her character. Only a trained warrior could move with such elegance. Someone like me.

Just thinking about earlier today, I overheard Veselle and Ruby talking about their pasts. Ruby was a slave or something, so how did she become the fighter she was now? That was not something you just pick up along the way.

A hiss from a nearby skeleton broke my thoughts away from Ruby. I looked off to my right to see a black skeleton advancing towards me, his hands oozing with corrupted energy that felt malicious. I lowered myself into the fighting form of Fire Petal Dance, the mana striking form father forced me to master before my tenth birthday. It was my preferred striking art where I sacrificed punching for palm thrusts that allowed me to direct my spiritual energy into my opponent's aura. I could take down anyone as long as I made partial contact. And a skeleton was not a normal person, it was a spiritual construction. Hitting it with my energy would disrupt its connection to its holder. The skeleton would not last long against my martial arts.

I pushed forward, my legs knee deep in the murky brown water. The water was thick and sloshy but I still moved fast enough to create a wave behind me. By the time I was within striking distance from the skeleton I was already preparing my palm for my strike. I thrust my hand out, feeling my mana flow through my arm and out my palm, manifesting itself as a light blue flame. My energy struck out at the skeleton, which the skeleton reacted by having its face explode on contact with my energy. Next thing I knew, the body of the skeleton was evaporating into what looked like ectoplasm.

I took a second to catch my breath. Looking around, I didn't see any other skeletons heading my way, so I took the opportunity to look down at my clothes. They were completely soaked through. I looked up at the hundreds of skeletons sloshing their way up to Master Neloth and Ruby. I couldn't worry about my clothes right now. I was a battlemage for House Telvanni. I could not just sit here and watch as my Lord fought his own battles without my help. He was my family now, and I would not sit here and watch him do all the work. I shifted my stance from Fire Petal Dance to a distance form known as Ash Storm. I took a deep breath as I collected my energy into a ball in my hand. I screamed a kiai as I blasted my hand out, willing the energy collected within it to launch out as a wave of destruction. And my energy flew off as a blue wave of fire. It washed over several skeletons before dying off.

That drew the attention of nearby skeletons too. They started charging for me, and I readied myself for another round. I still had plenty of energy to spare, but I could already feel the pinched hole in my chest hurt. Kyuu did his best to heal my wounds, but they were still there. Father was good at killing. Kyuu saved me from death, but the damage was still there. I couldn't push myself too hard right now. I had to switch to a more defensive form: the Stoneflower Shuffle. It was a form made to use whatever energy I had to create a defensive barrier between me and my enemies. Since my feet barely left the floor, it also allowed me to plant 'roots' in my environment where I could draw in more mana to use with my Fire Petal Dance. I could actually use both forms at once, but it was strange to watch. Whenever I used them both I just called it the Gold Kanet Blossoms. It was the martial art I designed for myself, the one father could never teach me. It was an extension of myself. Fire Petal Dance called for fluidity of movement, the Stoneflower Shuffle was more rooted and about defense. My Gold Kanet Blossoms was both put into one. Fluid to the movement, but stone hard and stiff upon delivery. I am a master of it since I created it. And no other assassin in the Morag Tong could ever recreate it.

I waited as the horde of skeletons all wielding swords and whatnot rushed me. My father taught me a lot about the personal circle that one uses to determine if someone is within their striking range. My circle size depended on which style I was using, and my Gold Kanet Blossoms had a giant circle. It was too bad I was too injured to use it as effectively, so my circle was a lot smaller. As soon as the first skeleton stepped into my personal circle, I pushed off my feet and snapped out a foot at him. I can also manipulate the energy through my feet, which is possible because I had to learn how to root in the first place. My foot found a nice spot in the skeleton's jaw, and the skeleton let out a shriek as it crumbled to ectoplasm just like the last one.

Three more were already passing into my personal circle but I was ready. When I touched down, I summoned my mana to my hands. When I spun back around, I blasted my mana out like a wave. The wave washed over the advancing skeletons, evaporating them like they were nothing. I managed to plant my feet down and draw in some new energy as the rest of the wave rushed over to me. There were more than ten or so, but I didn't stop to count. I just started fighting. I stuck my palm out at one, blasting him before he could slash at me; twisted my head to the side barely evading an arrow as soon as I saw an arrow heading towards me; snapping my foot back to kick a skeleton coming up behind me; and finally punching two in the face on opposite sides of me. Those punches were a mistake though; one of the skeletons had found an opening and took it. He thrust a sword right at me. It never made it. I snapped my foot out, roundhouse kicking the sword tip away from me while blasting a wave of mana at him.

I tried to recover my footing but my clothes were heavier than I would have liked. My wound in my chest was starting to hurt too. My foot supporting me crumbled and I fell back into the sludgy water, the skeletons falling down on top of me as they clawed at me with their bony fingers. I tried to push them away, blasting them with raw mana, but that was never my strong suit. There was a large flash of light overhead and the skeletons were suddenly gone. I felt another hand clamp down on top of me and I swore to the gods that if Ruby pulled me up a second time, I would have some choice words for her.

I was suddenly pulled straight up to my feet by Thiah, the strange woman with the incredible aura. "Are you ok?" She looked slightly concerned. Her long daikatana glowed with whatever spell she launched at the skeletons.

I nodded. "I'm fine, thanks."

She let go of my blouse and looked at me. "You have no weapons, no armor… and yet you fought with the ferocity of a true warrior." She looked back at Master Neloth and Ruby. "I believe that is all of them. We should hurry to find back up."

"I will just levitate us." Master Neloth said as he walked over to us. He looked around for a second. "Where are Veselle and Seth?" I could see the worry already forming in his eyes. Did he think they were killed?

"Oh, they stayed back in the sacrifice room!" I shouted to him. "They both were starting to feel sore and they couldn't use magicka so… they thought they'd just be in the way."

Thiah sighed. "Oh well. I really wanted to see her in action too."

Master Neloth looked over at Thiah, even more worry showing on his face. "Do not worry, Thiah. There is still the tournament."

She scoffed. "I suppose." She looked over at me. "You, however, need some proper armor if you're going to continue with us." She snapped her fingers and a Conjuration portal ripped open in front of her hand. The portal cleared away and there was a suit of ebony armor resting in her hand. "Here, change into this armor. It's ebony mail." She handed the armor to me as if it meant nothing to her.

I looked at the armor for a second before nodding. "Thanks." I took the armor from her and looked for a dry place to change. When I didn't find one, Thiah snapped her fingers. The armor disappeared in a portal, but only for a second. Another portal ripped open right on top of me and I felt my wet clothes disappear. The feeling was replaced by the ebony mail armor, which felt it was made for me. When the portal disappeared, I looked down to see that I was head-to-toe in ebony mail armor. Even my gloves were changed to have sharp knuckles for punching. Wow… this armor felt amazing. I never felt this nice in any other armor.

"It is done then?" Master Neloth looked from me over to Thiah. "Are you sure about this?"

Thiah shrugged. "Sure about what? It's just armor." She said as she turned around. "Let us continue. We must get to the resting place before they do."

"I am sick of this pronoun game!" Ruby screamed. "Who are they?"

"We're wasting time." Thiah was still running down the corridor filled with knee deep brown water.

"We can talk and run at the same time!" Ruby screamed after her, taking off in a sprint. I started running to catch up to them, and it felt a lot easier in this armor than in anything I could have been wearing before this.

"The people we are after are the tools of Hermeaus Mora." Thiah announced as we raced through the knee deep water. The corridor seemed to continue going on without coming to an end. I didn't see any more skeletons popping up, which was nice.

"But why is Hermeaus Mora sending his agents here?" Ruby asked.

"This is the tomb of Vahlok. He was a dragon priest back in the mythic era. When Miraak started working for Hermeaus Mora and began learning how to dominate the minds of mortals with his Dragonborn ability, Vahlok was the one to confront him. The two fought and at the end, Vahlok was the one to beat him. Hermeaus Mora saved Miraak's life and kept him locked away in Apocrypha to serve him as one of his agents. The other dragon priests helped seal Vahlok here in this tomb where his presence would keep Miraak sealed away in Apocrypha. As long as Vahlok is alive, we do not have to worry about Miraak coming back." Thiah looked back at Master Neloth. "We need a jump up."

I looked up to see an open doorway hallway up the wall. Master Neloth nodded. "Right away." He stuck his hands out and a giant levitation circle appeared out of nowhere. It was the same one he used on us earlier to keep us from falling to our deaths.

Before Thiah could step into the circle, Ruby grabbed Thiah's arm. "I still don't understand something. How do you know all this?"

She smirked. "I'm Boethiah. I'm the god of deceit, conspiracy, treason, and secrecy. In times of war, I work with a couple other Daedra Lords: Mephala, Azura, and Nocturnal as a unit of sabotage, intelligence, and subterfuge."

Master Neloth looked over at us. "Their names are Spider, Dawn, and Shadow."

Boethiah nodded. "And my name is Assassin." She looked over at me. "And my role with my sisters is simple. We are the infiltrators, the ones that work in the shadows of the battlefield. I am the assassin… and I am here to kill the agents of Hermeaus Mora before they complete their objective. But… I need agents as well. I have chosen Mirri to act as my agent, my champion. To complete my objective here, Dawn wanted me to use her agents… Neloth and his daughters… as well as Ruby." She looked over at Ruby.

"What? I'm not an agent of Azura!" She protested.

Boethiah smirked. "You don't know it, but you are." She turned to walk into the circle. "No more questions. We must hurry."

"Just one last question." Ruby pulled back on Boethiah's arm. "You mentioned a war. What war?"

Boethiah smiled. "_The_ war. The last war. The only war that matters. The war of our time. The Everything War. The Aedra, the Daedra, and everything you could ever believe… all fighting for the prize of Tamriel. You can sit here and think about it, but you won't understand it. I will try my best to explain it though. There are my brothers and sisters that are fighting each other for reign of this plane of Oblivion: Mundus. It started at the end of the mythic era with the act of Alduin, the rise of man. When they transported Alduin through time and space, they violated the agreement of the gods. Alduin's defeat had been delayed and because of this, the destruction of this planet only delayed until Alduin returned. Until that time, my brothers and sisters have done their part to prepare this world for what would come. Some are against us and plan to rule Mundus as their own. Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal are examples of this. There are other Daedra that assist them: Namira, Peryite, and sometimes Vaermina."

I had no idea what was going on, but Master Neloth seemed to understand. "And now Hermeaus Mora? What does he have to do with all of this?"

She looked over at him. "Everything. He was the one pulling the strings all along, but we never figured it out until it was too late. Alduin revolted because Miraak forced him too by using his Bend Will Shout, which he learned from Hermeaus Mora. The plan was to use Alduin to lay waste to the planet so that Hermeaus Mora could exact his plan to make a planet for the Dwemer. He was the one that taught the Dwemer how to achieve immortality, but when the Dwemer accidentally created a massive portal to Aetherius, a domain he had no reach in, Tentacle used Alduin create a portal to release the Dwemer. He was the one that forced Alduin to travel to our time by convincing a lone Nord to use an Elder Scroll to trap Alduin in the cracks of time."

Ruby scratched her head. "This is…ugh… my head."

Boethiah nodded. "This is my domain… conspiracy. I've spent a millennia searching for any evidence supporting my theories, and I know they're correct now." She started turning around towards the levitation circle. "And it doesn't end there. The Corpus virus, the Ash Spawn… they're the acts of Namira, Molag Bal, and Peryite, a form of disease that corrupts the forms and minds of people and animals alike. Molag Bal offers his assistance to dominate the minds of humans in the creation of the virus, Namira helps with the disfigurement portion, and Peryite creates the means for the virus to spread. They've been behind your Ash Spawn problem. They are working with Hermeaus Mora to complete his goal of ruling Tamriel. What they get out of ruling Tamriel is beyond me, but I am guessing it's to release them from the planes of Oblivion."

"Then why aren't you helping them?" Ruby asked. "Wouldn't you like to be released from your own plane?"

She motioned to her form. "Do I look trapped to you? No, we can come and go as we please, but some want more than just freedom, they want domination. I did not help the Dunmer in their time of need to sit back and watch the Dwemer destroy all that we have created. The Dwemer are a blight on our life, and if they get the chance to create their god killer machines… no Daedra Lord will stand a chance. Hermeaus Mora will be the last one standing… while the rest of us burn in the outer planes of nonexistence. I will not tolerate such treachery. That is _my_ domain… not his."

"So… how am I an agent of Azura?" Ruby asked.

Boethiah smirked. "You are a Khajiit, the race she protects as well as Dunmer. Not to mention your connection to crystals and the moons… You act on Azura's influence even if you don't acknowledge it. You learned the ancient shaman art from an Ashlander, a witch that learned her art from Azura herself. Your art form was devised by Azura. And she chose you as her champion long ago… and here you are. She will call upon you when she needs you… but she tends to use her crystal spirits to do it for her."

Ruby stood there stunned for a second. "Um… wow."

Boethiah cursed as she jumped into the portal. "Oh no… I've wasted too much time. They've released the seal. Vahlok is awakened."

I was still standing there, trying to process everything I had just heard. I was chosen by Boethiah to be one of her agents? I looked down at the armor she had given me. I'd heard about the Ebony Mail… a Daedric artifact given by Boethiah to her champions, her agents of assassination. Was I now in her service? My head spun as I watched Ruby and Master Neloth head up the portal. What was going on? I just wanted to live a normal life with everyone in Tel Mithryn. What was going to happen to me now? I took a deep breath as I looked down at the levitation spell. I stepped onto the spell and felt it launch me up. I watched as I floated up to the doorway. The spell stopped pushing and I drifted over to the floor, safely letting me touch down before the spell let go of me.

Ruby was waiting for me. "Glad you joined us. Come on… Boethiah and Neloth are already confronting the agents." She didn't wait for me as she spun on her heel and flashed down the walkway. I followed right behind her, almost moving as fast as she did. I followed behind Ruby into a larger room. Master Neloth and Boethiah were standing near the entrance with Ruby. When I walked into the room, I could already see two people inside waiting for us. Both were human, something I did not expect. I expected Dunmer like me but one was clearly a nicely dressed Nord, and one looked like a half-crazed Imperial mage.

"Oh, how nice. Another guest." The Nord said.

Master Neloth's hands started to glow. "I remember you. You were the scholar living with the Skaal. You mentioned something about an expedition."

The Nord nodded. "Indeed, you are correct. This _is_ the expedition. Just imagine… Vahlok the Jailor… slain. And with his demise, Miraak the True Dragonborn will live again. He will enslave the world for Hermeaus Mora, and those who worship Hermeaus Mora will live like gods among men."

"Septimus merely wishes to meet the Dwemer. The mystery of the box… of the heart of Lorkhan… Septimus must know what lies beneath the heart. Hermeaus Mora promises Septimus the heart, but without the key, Septimus cannot unlock the lock. And the key can only found when the Dwemer return. So, Septimus needs the Dwemer to find the key to unlock the heart that lies underneath Mundus." The half-crazed Imperial said as fire magicka started flowing off his fingers. "Septimus will do whatever is needed to unlock the heart. Hermeaus Mora commands Septimus, and Septimus will obey."

I brought up my own fists. Ok… I had to do this. Time to fight.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So, Boethiah is the secret character I've been referring to. And the war that occurs in Changing Fates. The God of Fate, Hermeaus Mora... will lead a war of Dwemer with the help of Peryite, Molag Bol, Jyggalag, Mehrunes Dagon, and Namira. While Sanguine, Sheogorath, Malacath, Meridia, and Hircine all do their thing, while Boethiah, Nocturnal, Azura, and Mephala do theirs. Oh... not to mention all the Aedra doing their stuff as well. Changing Fates might be broken up into three separate stories or just a really confusing single story. Eh... I'd figure it out. Kind of like how it is now with the gods involving themselves so... yeah, I can do it all in one story. I cannot wait. The end is coming. And the Chronicles of Ruby and Veselle will be the gateways to its beginning.  
_


	40. Dawn's Arrival

**Cearbhail**:

_And I'm back. My birthday was yesterday so ... things happened for the past few days. Long story short, I spent it at my favorite crystal shop, went to Presque Isle and walked around the beach, lied on the nice warm sand. Went to a winery and got some of my favorite wine. Then went to Toko Japanese steak house for some delicious unagi sashimi and habachi steak. All in all... it was a great day. Spent the whole day with my mom.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

[Mirri]

_Book of Shadows entry: 4e207 17th Sun's Dusk_

_Things have taken a turn for the worse. Late into the game, Thiah finally told us what we were after. If she had told us sooner that we were taking on a Daedric Lord... we could have prepared. But no… she had to stay silent about the whole thing, because that's what she does. She keeps secrets and stuff. Instead, she blinded led us into a trap and now… we're outnumbered. We're on the edge of a war between two Daedric gods…and I'm just a lone battlemage fighting for her life. Master Neloth is busy fighting the mage Septimus… Boethiah is fighting some sort of giant bubbling pile of goo… and Ruby is stuck fighting the Nord. I thought she had it easy, until she stabbed him. He smirked as his skin exploded and next thing I knew… there was a tall black monster thing with long tentacles and acid dripping from his mouth walking out from the Nord's body. If that wasn't enough, there are Seekers floating around, shooting green lightning at us. Ruby's too busy fighting all those things now… and if that's not enough… there are a few other things joining us._

_I'm getting too ahead of myself, aren't I? I'll explain what's going on. I'm not Boethiah. I don't hide stuff, I kill it. It seems that Hermeaus Mora is working with other Daedra Lords: Peryite and Namira. At least, that's what it looks like because there are other things popping up. A swarm of skeevers that look diseased are running around, trying to bite me, as well as some zombies fighting their way up from the murky water to fight me. Meanwhile, that Nord guy is rushing to the sarcophagus that contains the one person who can keep some Miraak guy from returning. I guess I have to stop him. Good thing my new ebony armor can protect me from the skeevers trying to bite me._

_Mirri Severin._

_…_

Mission objective: stop anyone from killing Vahlok. Tactical assessment: everyone seems engaged in their own private battles with key enemies. Master Neloth is fighting a mage of equal strength; Boethiah is fighting another Daedra Lord; Ruby is fighting so many things at once that it was putting a strain on her. I entertained the thought of rushing in and helping her, casually throwing her praise aside when she thanks me for rescuing her from her inevitable defeat. It was too bad I couldn't go ahead and help her; I had a mission objective to fulfill. It was the Nord scholar. He was making a mad dash to the sarcophagus. If he did whatever he needed to do to kill Vahlok, all of this would have been for nothing. I had to stop him.

I tried to move my feet but suddenly remembered I was surrounded by skeevers trying to bite through my new enchanted armor. I rolled my eyes as I started drawing in mana from inside me. With a loud kiai, I blasted my energy out through my feet, creating an explosion of blue mana that overwhelmed the skeevers enough that they let me go. As soon as I got some breathing room and I gained mobility, I flashed off the floor. I pushed up into the air as high as I could go. This was enchanted armor, one that was personally designed for me, now that I think of it. Boethiah gave it to me for a reason, and I'm guessing it probably has enough effects on it to make me a badass assassin. Only one way to find out. And that's to fight.

So, one thing I learned about my new armor… I can jump really high. Maybe it increases my agility or something? I'm not really sure, I just know that I intended to jump over the skeevers; I did not intend to jump up to the high ceiling. Once I hit the top of the ceiling, I guess my boots have some sort of anchoring effect, because I just stood on the ceiling, hanging upside down as I looked down at the floor underneath me. And from up here, I got a good look at the layout of the entire tomb. There were a lot of traps laid out on the floor, most of which seemed designed to create walls of fire along the floor. That and…well… no one was triggering those traps yet. And with so many skeevers and zombies crawling around the room, I think this room would do well with some cleansing. But… how to do such a thing? I didn't have any oil to spread across the floor, or anything even remotely flammable.

I looked away from the traps to the scrambling Nord rushing over to the sarcophagus. He needed to be stopped before anything else. I didn't have any weapons nor any spell training like what Veselle has, but I do have my mana arts as well as my martial arts. I could feel that wound in my chest griping at me again, and I didn't know what I had left in me to give to this fight, but I knew for certain that I had more than enough to kill one bothersome Nord. Ok then, I know what I must do. I aimed myself at the Nord and bent my knees. I screamed a kiai before pushing myself off the roof. My boots seemed to know to release themselves from the ceiling top and next thing I knew I was flying down to the Nord like a ballista. I could barely track myself as I flew right down at him. And before I knew it, I was sitting in a crouch, dust and bits of rocks falling down around me.

A quick look around told me that I had created a crater where I landed. The Nord was right behind me, cowering in the way that you'd expect from a villain that ordered others to fight for him instead of the other way around. When I stood up, he seemed to squeak enough that I could tell he didn't know what to say. He did manage to crab walk back a bit as he tried to get away from me.

I turned to face him. I didn't feel like wasting time with words or anything. I'm not perfect, but I learned a lot from watching my dad work. The only way the heroes ever walk away is if the bad guy monologues. The same goes with good guys chatting up the bad guys. He'll only get away if I give him a second to think. I don't want that. So, I charged at him with the intention of crushing him. I was stopped by something inhuman. Seriously… it was inhuman. A skeleton hand reached out of nowhere, wrapping around my arm. When I snapped my arm around, there was a large snake woman with what looked like bonemold armor covering her body. Her serpentine body had many insect legs sprouting out along the side, each harboring nasty looking talons. Her face was feminine, though it looked weathered: her eyes large and buggy, her hair falling out in clumps and what hair she did have was too curly to have a distinct shape to it.

She didn't say anything to me. She did try to stab me with her ten long knife talons. And that's when things got interesting. When the talons got close to me, they suddenly stopped like some invisible force was halting them. The serpentine woman's face became even uglier as she tried to fight the invisible force, almost screaming in rage as she pushed down on me. When she realized that she couldn't get any closer to me, for whatever reason I don't know, she turned to look at the Nord. "Don't just sit there, boy! Only a Nord can unlock the cage! Get to it!"

Only a Nord can unlock the cage? That was a stupid rule. Who designed it? It didn't matter either way. The mission just became that much simpler. Kill the Nord and no one can unlock the cage today. And if Boethiah was as serious as she made herself out to be, she'd probably find a way to keep other Nords from wandering into the burial chamber like this. So, knowing that the serpentine woman couldn't get near me, I decided to ignore her and instead focus my efforts on the Nord. I snapped my arm around the bony arm holding onto me. I managed to knock her hand away long enough for me to charge for the Nord again. I was thrown back by a large centipede tail. It hit me hard enough that I was tossed off my feet and back into the fray with all the skeevers and whatnot. I landed pretty hard on my back and before I knew it, I had skeevers swarming all over me, trying to bite me. I tried my best to cover my face with my armored hands so that they couldn't get to my eyes or anything important. I felt the skeevers rustling in my hair and I felt hot breath on one of my ears. I could hear the clicking teeth of the skeever as he tried to snap at my ear, but I twitched away just in time to avoid having an ear-piercing.

There was a loud scream and I felt a wave of energy overwhelm the skeevers. I looked through my armored fingers to see Ruby standing over top of me, swatting away at the skeevers with her bare claws. She hissed as the skeever all pounced on her. She swatted madly as she knocked them around the room, slashing them to pieces as she did so. As more and more tried to overwhelm her, I could see her beginning to lose her edge. I had to help her. So, I stopped playing hopeless and picked myself up. I jumped right at her, throwing a palm thrust at a few skeevers jumping right at her. I may not like her, I may think she's a bitch, but right now we're comrades. And she's employed to House Telvanni, of which I am a battlemage. I am honored to serve this House and anyone working for it.

My burning palm managed to slam into a few of the skeevers. They squealed in pain as everything that made them up was burned to a crisp. My mana burns everything: inside and out… all at once. So, once I covered some of the skeevers rushing Ruby, I ran up beside her, nodding to her before putting my back to hers. "Thanks for earlier."

She purred a response to me. "Let's just call it even." She didn't look back at me, but I could hear her voice directed to me. "Did I hear that right? The Nord is the key?"

I nodded, which seemed weird since we weren't looking at each other. "Don't know how we'll get to him. He's already at the sarcophagus." Not to mention, that giant centipede woman was slithering around in front of the sarcophagus… glaring at us. I looked down at the rows and rows of skeevers all making a circle around Ruby and me… like they were a hive mind. "What's up with the skeevers?"

Ruby took a few seconds to sniff. "They smell weird… diseased almost. And they smell Daedric."

_"Well done."_ The skeevers seemed to hiss. _"We are Peryite: the Lord of Pestilence."_ Their collective voice rained over us, all in barely audible hisses. Ok… so that was making sense now. They were a Daedric god. And since Boethiah was busy fighting the giant blob made up of eyeballs and tentacles, I can only assume she was fighting another Daedric god. Even looking at the giant centipede woman… I could see the Daedric energy surrounding her. Ok, so these must be the gods that are working with Hermeaus Mora to free Vahlok. We had to stop them, but how?

"I have an idea, but it's crazy." Ruby said to me. "It just popped into my head… or… more like my spirit Dia suggested it to me. Just… trust me on this. I need you to buy me a few minutes." Buy her a few minutes? What did that mean?

I looked over my shoulder at Ruby. She was glancing at me with pleading eyes. "Ok… sure." Jeez… what was she planning to do?

Ruby sighed as she reached up at her crystalline necklace. It had a lot of various crystals on them that I didn't know much about. She reached for the necklace as the air around her started to glow a faint white.

I watched as Ruby's eyes snapped shut and as an invisible wind seemed to blow straight up as she started slipping into a trance. It was like the very light coming from the necklace was wrapping around her in a column of energy. "Xa'fu tuzzaww'vi Azurah-wixi, Nisha-chif'ti xa'fu woza'fo khaa'eduf hinn'rakeziwio." Her voice was like a whisper. I had no idea what she was even saying, but it had to be in her native language.

_"She calls her! She must be stopped."_ The voices of the skeevers all called out to me as they rushed at us like a giant wave. I brought up my fists, but I didn't get the chance to fight anyone. There was a blinding light and all the skeevers were suddenly thrown back by an invisible force. The skeevers seemed scared as they started shuffling back. _"No… she was successful."_

I was about to charge the line of skeevers, but a light hand clasped around my shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "You've fought enough for today, child of light." A beautiful blue Dunmer with sparkling skin and long purple hair said to me as she stepped forward. Her eyes were as clear as diamonds, and just as sharp. Her dress seemed as dark as night, but sparkled like every star in the universe was captured within her. She stepped forward to the skeevers with the grace of the very cosmos. This had to be Azura… the goddess of the dawn and dusk. She looked back at me with her crystalline eyes, silently acknowledging me. "You should rest now. I will handle the _pest_ myself."

I looked over to the giant centipede woman. The Nord behind her was beginning to mess around with the sarcophagus. I needed to stop him, not rest. As I started to push forward, I felt my chest explode in pain. My vision started to blur and I fell to my feet. I could feel warm blood beginning to flow down my stomach. Oh no… I broke my stitches open. I should have stopped when Azura asked me too. She must have known.

I started to collapse onto my knees, my vision darkening and my breath laboring. "Dear Nisha, look after your friend. She needs your healing right now." Azura said as a giant naginata appeared in her arms. "I will buy you some time."

Ruby was breathless but she ended up nodding and jumping right over top of me. She grabbed me by my shoulders and gently started laying me down on the floor. "Ok… I will need to get this armor off."

I was about to call her a pervert but I couldn't get much breath to my lungs. I could feel blood starting to flow in and it was causing me to cough up blood, pretty violently too. I'll give Ruby a lot of credit though. I was literally coughing blood up onto her face and she didn't even flinch. It was like she was used to be covered in blood or something. She didn't stop as she started untying my armor plates, trying her best to expose my chest to find the wound. She managed to get my chest plate off before seeing the layer of Daedric chainmail underneath. I could feel the wound getting worse, my limbs getting colder by the minute. The sharp pain of the stab wound growing even worse, or maybe it was always there and I just ignored it.

I glanced up at Ruby's eyes one last time as she glared down at me. I could see her sharp blue eyes glaring at me, slowly turning red. Red eyes? Why did her eyes look red? As my delusion started to set in, I couldn't see Ruby anymore. But I did see my father… and his red glowing eyes. Ruby's eyes reminded me of my father, of the way he glared at me when he called me worthless, thrusting his katana into my chest. I may not have thought my father was a good person at that time. I may have believed that he was a bad guy and that his plot for revenge was unjustified. But that moment when he tried to kill me… that moment when he ran a sword through my chest… I felt more than just my heart break. I felt my soul break. I never thought for one second that my father was capable of killing me. Emotionally, anyway. I thought I was his little girl, not just a tool for some assassination plot.

But… here he was… clear as day. That intense hatred in his eyes as he stole one last look at me. The way he glared his final insult to me as I slipped off his katana and into the bloody water underneath me. If being stabbed wasn't enough, I had water filling my lungs through the multiple holes in me. I didn't even try to hold my breath. I don't think I was capable of doing anything at the time. I still felt the water overcome me. I felt my father glaring at me as I sank to the bottom of the pool, looking up at him through the shifty water. I tried to breathe but couldn't. It felt like I was drowning in my own blood. I tried to cry but I wasn't capable of it. I wanted to scream, but my words were drowned out. My entire life had led to this moment, where I lied at the bottom of the pool, looking up at my father as he watched me die.

That changed a few seconds later, right as the world started to darken around me. I could no longer see my father; I no longer cared for the water in my lungs, the lifelessness in my limbs. My body would not respond to me, and I knew I was dying, but I couldn't do anything to stop that. That was when I knew I was dead. I didn't give up, I just didn't have the power to change anything, and that felt even worse than giving up. I fought to stay alive, to prove to my father that my life would not end on his whim. I couldn't stop it though. He purposefully didn't teach me magicka. I did not know Restoration, or Alteration. I could not breathe water or heal my wounds. He wanted me to die this whole time. Like the tool I was.

"Hang on!" I could vaguely hear Ruby's scratchy voice in the back of my mind. My vision started to lighten up as something jumped into the pool with me. It was Veselle's pet healer: Kyuute. He had jumped into the pool to save my life. That meant Veselle sent him to heal me. He didn't say anything to me; he just landed on my chest, planting his feet around my wound. His ears perked up, his bright blue eyes turning even brighter as a giant pulsing white column of light started to surround us. I could feel that holy magicka flow through me, helping me reverse time on the wound. I still couldn't breathe underwater, but that would have to wait for later. My vision was starting to come back. I could see the tiny white fox looking into my eyes, smiling at me with his wide blue eyes. "You will be just fine." The fox said with Ruby's voice. What? Kyuute did not sound like Ruby; he sounded a lot softer and filled with heavenly joy.

I couldn't give up yet. Veselle was fighting my father and probably losing. She needed my help. I tried to swim up to escape the pool filling with my blood. My body still wouldn't respond to my commands though. The last thing I saw before I decided to let go of my last breath as Kyuute looking down at me with his huge eyes. He seemed to be telling me it was ok to let go… that everything would be just fine in the end. So, I let go of my held breath. And water flowed into my lungs…

…

[Veselle Tenvanni]

Something wasn't right. I was in the process of sliding Seth's tunic up off his chest before I heard some screeching. The lit torches keeping the sacrificing room covered in light suddenly snuffed themselves. And that changed the entire atmosphere. It was no longer romantic… no longer something I could use to get closer to Seth. And trust me; I was pretty close to getting closer to him. I had my hand on his belt when he suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pulled me away from him.

"What was that?" He asked as he looked around the now darkened room.

I groaned as I released his belt, looking up at the dark ceiling and silently resenting the god of hearth for taking away the only chance I've had at getting Seth on top of me. I shook my head as I tried to cool myself down. "No idea. Want to ignore it and continue what we were doing?"

Seth obviously didn't hear me because he was back in patrol mode. "Hey, Vess. Wasn't there a bridge just a minute ago?"

"I wouldn't know. I didn't get to touch it." I mumbled as I walked over to stand beside him. And I saw what he was seeing. Or not seeing. That long astral bridge that everyone ran across was suddenly gone. That… that unsettled me. I could feel Hermeaus Mora's presence growing stronger, pushing his will down upon me. It was like he was mocking me. And I had a sudden urge to go find everyone. Make sure they were safe. "Um… Seth. We need to go find the others."

He glanced at me. Oh… so he heard _that_ but not me wanting to have sex with him? Guys…

Seth nodded. "I think you're right. But… how?"

I looked around the dark room. I shrugged, saying, "Oh well, we tried." I grabbed his hand. "Now, can we please…"

"Wait…" He seemed entranced as ignored my plea. He looked at the activation switch that obviously turned on the astral bridge, and I knew that any chance I had at getting closer to him today was now thrown away. He started for the switch, pulling me since I was holding onto his hand. I groaned as I followed behind him, stomping my feet in defeat as I kept up behind him. Another mood killed by inconvenient enemies. If I could kill Hermeaus Mora, I would.

I watched from behind Seth as he looked at the activation button. "Maybe if I press this." He looked back at me for a second before looking back at the switch. "Ok, I'm going to press it." And he pressed it. There was a second of silence before one of the astral bridge things appeared. It was followed by a second one, then a third one. Once a fourth one appeared, the first one disappeared. And that trend continued, taking odd turns as it did so, like it was trying to be confusing or something.

I sighed as I looked over at Seth. "This is a conditional quest thing, isn't it?" I sighed as I started rubbing my eyes. I really hated these things. If we wanted to continue, we'd have to put up with these stupid bridges, making sure to stay on them as they snaked around the upper level or something. And of course the bridge would become even more winding, even more confusing, even quicker and harder to stay on. I know these things pretty well by now. Looking down, I could already see the penalty if I didn't manage to stay on the bridge. The nasty bloody water that lied underneath of all the heroes that attempted in the past and died by some horrific fate. I'm guessing there are skeletons waiting for me in the water. And I'd have to fight them if I wanted to escape and repeat the process again.

Looking down at my mother's old blue dress that I had to wear until I could properly dress myself… I really did not want to end up in that bloody water. Looking back at the astral bridge reaching the end of the wide chasm, I saw the bridge flicker before dying off. I looked back at Seth. "Is there any way I can get you to cross the bridge instead of me?"

He shrugged, pushing the button. "We'll take turns." He gestured for me to move, and I cursed as the first bridge piece popped up.

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before whispering, "You owe me one." Then I turned around and fumbled my weak body onto the first two bridge pieces, almost accidentally stepping too far and falling down into the murky bloody water. After stumbling to my possible death, it was like a short walk across the slowly appearing bridge pieces. I'd step onto the next one that would pop up and stand there as I waited for the next one. I refused to look behind me. I'd rather just imagine that all the other pieces of the bridge were still lining the way back and not disappearing behind me. I feared that if I turned around and saw that I was stranded on these three tiles while suspended 50 feet above a bloody pool filled with the skeletons of everyone that died before me that I would freak myself out and fall off the bridge.

I kept my eyes on the pieces popping up in front of me, walking onto them as they popped up. I glanced over to the other side of the chasm, knowing that I kept getting closer. "You're almost there, Vess!" Seth screamed over to me from gods know how far away.

I refused to look back at him, but I did wave over my head. "Concentrating! Don't bother me!" I really did not want to fall into that water. It looked disgusting. The final bridge piece popped up and I could easily just hop the space to the walkway if my body wasn't as shot as it was. As it was, I waited for that final piece to pop up before rushing over to the walkway. As soon as I did so, the bridge behind me disappeared. I thought that for a second it would just remain gone this time. Then, as if on cue, the entire straight bridge returned and held solid. I looked back at Seth. He was waiting to see if the bridge would disappear or something. When it didn't, he nodded to me and tried his best to run across the bridge. As soon as he made it across, he threw his arms out and rushed into me, wrapping me in a thick hug. He almost bowled me over.

"Ah, Vess. You were wonderful out there." He said as he rocked us back and forth. It was kind of out of character for him, but heck, I didn't care. I would have started undoing his belt if I wasn't sure things weren't going too well for our friends. Looking ahead, I could see more opportunities for more confusing bridges to be built. I sighed as I looked down at the murky black water. Oh joy… We had to hurry. Chances are… I might have to fight after all.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So...  
_

_I don't know what to say about this chapter. Anyway, see you next time.  
_


	41. Meet the family

**Cearbhail**:

_This chapter is ... well... I think it's pretty funny at times, but for the most part, it's all just exposition. It will be the next chapter where everything gets explodey. I can't wait; I might just write it next, but I already know that I'm working on the next chapter of After Shoutmen. Other than all that, I'm having a lot of fun playing Elder Scrolls online on the xbox one. As much as I detest that system for being as crappy as it is, and as expensive as the online that it is, I really enjoy the ability to not have to play this game on my laptop.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Dear diary of Shadows,_

_Ok, so… about the things going on. It's what? 17th Sun's Dusk or something like that? Still the same year and yadda, yadda, yadda. I know, I know… someone in the future might need my guidance on this one specific event and they'll need to know which day it happened on and what year. Fine! Today is what? 4e207, 17th Sun's Dusk. It's Middas evening, like near 7:00 P.M. or something. Now, if anyone for any reason needs this special event, they can look upon this page and know for a fact that I recorded it accurately. _**;P**

_Ok, so back to what I was trying to say before my boyfriend tries to entice me to undo his belt again. Sigh… ok, fine. I'm the one trying to entice him. So, since the last time I wrote something down, a lot of stuff has happened. Last I checked, I was complaining about getting bored of sitting around Raven Rock and doing nothing. Well, as it turns out, that woman Thiah, who…I haven't quite introduced to my diary. Crap. Thiah is like this uber warrior woman that wants to fight me in the tournament. Oh yeah… there's a tournament in Lancelot… I mean Raven Rock this Loredas. I'm fighting in it, and so are Ruby, Seth, Mirri, and the woman Thiah. Anyway, she's like an old friend to my dad and she wanted us for a quest to go to some ruin and do something that wasn't really explained to me or anything like that._

_Well, I wasn't feeling too well, and neither was Seth. So, we decided to hang back and make out with each other while everyone else went on the quest to fight the whatever it is we're here to fight. Well, during our make out session, all the torches and the mystical bridged went out. So, of course Seth would put off pulling down his pants to go find out if everyone was still alive. So, I begrudgingly decided to go help him. We found out the hard way that the bridges do a lot of crazy stuff to make sure we can't complete them. I don't even want to go into all the horrifying details that have been plagued upon us. But… but! BUT! We haven't fallen off the bridges yet. We're doing great. And we're on our last two bridges. It's Seth's turn so… yay!_

_Veselle Tenvanni!_

_…_

I kissed Seth one last time as he walked over to the edge of the platform. A good twenty feet below him was a dark murky pool of what I assume is a thousand generations of water mixed with blood and who knows what else. "Good luck." I said to him, giving him a thumbs up.

Seth nodded to me as he looked back at the platform. "We watched this one… you know what will happen to me when I step out on it."

"And we both know that the next one with me will be doubly worse. It is the last one after all." I replied to him.

Seth sighed as he nodded to me, signaling me to push the button. So, I walked away over to the button. "Three…two…one!" I slammed my hand on the button and Seth took off like a firecracker… Well, a firecracker with severe muscular damage. Ok… it was more like watching a drunk guy try to walk downstairs. It was that epic of a fail. But… he managed to get on the first two steps before losing his balance. Which worked out in his favor. As he fell down, a giant magicka formed hand came out of nowhere to push him off the bridge piece. It just missed him by a few inches. Just as fast as that hand appeared, it vanished. Well, that was one disastrous obstacle avoided. Seth struggled to get up but decided to roll off to his left instead. He managed to roll himself onto the next piece of extending bridge before the last piece vanished. Seth had to hurry as he flipped himself around. He screamed in pain as he dashed to the next block, but then jumping back as all the tile pieces vanished but one. And this was it… the moment of truth.

A giant magicka boot appeared underneath Seth, slamming him right in between the belt. Seth groaned out in pain as he fell to his knees. "Not again…" His newly found falsetto voice squeaked out. The tile he was sitting on was already beginning to fade away.

"Seth! You need to move soon! Your tile is dramatically disappearing underneath you!" I screamed to him, hoping the power of my love would be more powerful than his hurting balls.

"Hate this… hate this, and hate the person who designed this." Seth cried as he pushed himself up onto his hands. He managed to crawl, kinda, over to the next tile as it suddenly popped up. The tile he had been kneeling under vanished just as suddenly. I let go a breath I didn't know I was holding as Seth started pushing himself to continue the tortuous maze of appearing obstacles and bridge tiles.

Seth disappeared from my sight once he rounded a corner. The only thing I could hear were the new bridge pieces popping up and Seth screaming in either pain or surprise as he faced his new trials. We could only see parts of bridge popping up and some of the obstacles when we did our observation. Every time we started up a bridge, we did a few test activations to get used to where the pieces would move, how fast they would move, and to familiarize ourselves with the 'surprise' elements. Like the boot kicking Seth in the balls. He thought he could move out of the way, but his body must have faulted at some point. Or he just forgot, but I can't see a guy just randomly forgetting a trap that would create the most pain in their world. And this was a growing trend for Seth. Every trap we've faced, he's taken most of his face first, while I've managed to dodge most of mine. I had the last set of bridges to go across, and I'm guessing that I will be facing the hardest traps of all.

So, standing here, waiting for Seth to finish what this segment of the bridge, I started looking down to the murky blood water. Somehow, I just knew that I was going to end up down there. I have pretty bad luck when it comes to landing in disgusting stuff. Like when I was with Talvas in that underground adventure of ours. I didn't exactly stay clean during that. And various other assignments, I've ended up covered in ash and gods know what else. So, it wasn't a step off to think that I was going to end up down there somehow. The universe is not kind to me, and I'm already pretty immobile as it is.

As I was looking down at the distant water, I was welcomed to a loud explosion of sound as the bridge appeared in front of me. I almost shuffled back, but I've experienced it a few times already. I managed to exhale sharply as my body screamed in pain. I tensed up just a little too tightly and jerked just a little quickly and it made my already wrecked body more upset.

"Veselle! I made it!" I could hear Seth's slightly groggy voice scream over the distance.

"I know!" I screamed back as soon as my body spasms stopped. I groaned as I rushed over the bridge. It straightened itself out Seth made it across to the other side. I hated that we needed to do this stuff just to get to the other side of the chasm, but I didn't have time to complain. I needed to help my friends with whatever was going on. I could hear the moans of zombies and whatnot up ahead, even squeaks of skeevers. I don't really know what's going on, but it was clear that we were needed.

I made it across the bridge, stopping to check my hands. I squeezed my hands as much as I could as I tried to summon my magicka. I felt every spiritual muscle in my arms tense as I tried to summon something. All I got was a flicker of orange fire, but nothing that I could fight with. If my dad and closest friends, including Ruby… a strong and recognized hero, could not handle whatever was going on, how was I going to be able to help? I can't even move like my normal martial artist self, and I can't summon my normal destructive magicka? I better think of something, otherwise, I'm dead in the water.

_You can summon me, partner!_ Kyuu called into the back of my head.

I shook my head to that idea. "I have no magicka left to summon you with." I wish I could summon him. He'd be a great help.

_You could at least try._ And I tried. I tried to call any magicka to my hand, but all I got was a magicka raspberry.

I sighed. "Sorry, Kyuu. I got nothing."

Seth walked up, throwing his arm over my shoulder, hugging me close to him. "You have me."

I kissed him really quick before rushing myself over to the next platform. "So… I need to do this."

"Should we give it a few test tries?" The distant screams of Mirri and Ruby called my attention away from the platforms. They were in trouble, and they were in pain. They needed immediate help.

I turned to look back at Seth. "No time. Push the button; I'll wing it."

Seth nodded and pushed the button. As soon as the first tile popped up, I ran out onto the rising bridge. And…I got slapped right in the face by an astral hand. And then the tile underneath me vanished. I felt my stomach fly up into my throat as I fell straight down into the murky water. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the plunge I was about to take. I couldn't believe that I made it this far just to end up down here anyway. I wish I could somehow prevent falling into this water.

I closed my eyes as I got within splashing range. This was going to hurt so bad… and taste even worse, I just knew it. I came a sudden halt, but I didn't feel that nasty water envelope me. No… but I felt like I was being held in someone's arms. I opened my eyes slowly, hoping that I didn't get surprised with a sudden splash of something. And I wasn't in the water. Obvious at this point, but I couldn't be too sure. When I looked to the person holding me, I could see that it was Sanguine. He had popped up just to save me. What a proper guardian spirit.

"Um…hi, Sanguine." I said as he continued to hold me up. "Thanks for saving me."

He smirked at me with his stupid suave smile. "I'm always here for my cutie." He said as he started sloshing through the sludgy water. "Couldn't let my little cutie ruin her favorite dress, now could I?"

I shook my head. "Since you're like really perverted and stuff, I thought you'd enjoy this kind of stuff."

He laughed. "Manners maketh man." He winked at me.

"But… you're not a man.." I started to say.

"Besides," He interrupted me as loudly as he could, "I know your heart pretty well, and I know that you would not enjoy ruining your mother's dress, and this…" He sloshed his feet around in the murky water, "will not come out even with the harshest of washing." He started heading for the end of the passage way. "Now… I do believe more cuties are in danger. And I have to meet this one girl that Sheo just loves."

"Sheo?" Who was Sheo? Wait… if I'm guessing correctly, Sheo was probably Sheogorath, the Daedric god of chaos and madness. "You mean Sheogorath?"

Sanguine nodded. "Yup, that's the one. You saw him that one night we were both drunk. The night I gave you my rose. He was the drunk one next to me. Sheo's got this little crush on this girl named after a crystal. He thinks she's so special or something. And apparently in a week or two he's going to have a lot of fun with her for a month's time. Something about a bet with Azura that he won during the Khajiit adult passage trials or something like that." He shrugged. "I don't really remember. I was totally sloshed that night."

"You're always sloshed." I responded, rolling my eyes.

He shrugged. "That is true. But you know what else is true?" When I shrugged, he sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me. I'm so sloshed, I can't remember what's true and what's fun."

"Manners maketh man, I guess." That's when I shrugged. You know, even if Sanguine is a perverted man servant to me… I kinda like being carried by him. I wish Seth would try to carry me, but I probably have bigger muscles than him. Although… he does work in the fields a lot. He's probably pretty lean. If only I could get past that shirt and belt, I could find out exactly what he's like underneath. I've seen his flat stomach and what looks like the beginnings of abs.

"Hey, Vess!" Seth called from the upper floor. "You ok?" He was looking right down at me.

I nodded as I hugged Sanguine. "Yup, Sanny saved me."

"Sanny?" Sanguine looked over at me. "Hey now, I'm a Daedra Lord. More specifically, I'm the Daedra Lord of Debauchery and all things pleasantly sinful. Do you really think I'll accept a nickname like Sanny?"

I nodded. "Horrible nicknames are sinfully sweet." I stuck my tongue out at him.

Sanny shrugged at this. "The girl makes good points." He nodded approvingly. He looked up at Seth. "You just stay up there for a few seconds. Once I get to the other side, I'll make the bridge appear." The bridge was still going through its normal confusing pattern of trying to knock someone off. I'm glad I fell off when I did. I could see a bucket of goat's blood appearing the only tile and just draining down onto the tile. There was no way I could have escaped that. The next tile seemed to throw glitter and feathers everywhere. I would have loved to see Seth go through this one, but for me… that would have been awful. The humiliation of it all would have brought my magicka back though. And I probably would have blown up the whole underground ruin.

Sanny didn't waste any time as he sped with Daedric speed to the other side. The bridge above us continued to flash on as it raced across the skyline, trying so hard to beat us to the finish line. I could see a shining levitation circle, like the one in the main tower in Tel Mithryn. So, that's how Dad and everyone got up to the second level. They used a levitation circle to get out of this muck. I urged Sanny to the portal. "Use that portal. We'll float right up."

"Got it." He said as he made waves behind us. He moved so quickly so effortlessly. Next thing I knew, we were at the portal and already floating up. The wave Sanny made behind us finally crashed into the wall by the time we reached the top. Sanny gently set me down to my feet before turning to face the bridge. It was just reaching us. Sanny stepped out, landing one foot on the last block and then taking it off. The bridge vanished for a second before popping back up, all in a straight line. He did it! He actually did it!

While Seth struggled across the bridge to catch up to us, I finally got to see what was going on. It was an all-out war. The first thing I saw was Ruby sitting over a collapsed Mirri. Mirri I guess reopened her wounds because she was bleeding from the chest. Ruby was doing all she could to help Mirri recover. There was this lovely angelic Dunmer wearing a dress that glowed like the entire cosmos fighting a horde of skeevers with a shining orb of light that resembled sunset. Huh… I wonder who she is. Off to my left was Thiah. She was slashing away with her naginata at Hermeaus Mora and his many Daedra. Off in the distance, I could see my own bondmate Anari. She was hovering in the air, blasting her unique Shock magicka at Thiah. Thiah was doing her best to dance/dodge her way around the shockwaves (get it?) while fighting off several massive bulky things that spewed oily stuff from their mouths. Gee… wonder what I'll get to fight in the future… knowing my luck.

Off to the right was my dad. He was fighting some mage. They both went back and forth as they blasted every bit of magicka they had at each other. It didn't help that he was also fighting off what looked like zombies trying to flank him. I think it was more the mage than the zombies though. Dad had a protection circle set up to keep them out. I think it was keeping out the majority of the other mage's attacks too. I'm unsure though. He had his own circle set up and it seemed like the two of them were counteracting each other's attempts to bring down their shields. Mage battles are weird. It's like watching two wrestlers trying to push each other out of the ring without trying to actually touch each other.

Towards the end of the large pit of what looked like firetraps was a giant centipede with an old crone's head slithering back and forth. And standing over what looked like a giant dragon priest coffin was some Nord guy. He was chanting some old song of some sort. I'm guessing that's not good.

"Wow… looks like we have quite the band put together." Sanny said as he looked around. He nudged me in the shoulder. "Ok, cutie. I'm going to introduce you to my family." He pointed to the beautiful blue Dunmer. "That's Azura. She's the doting younger sister; loves her crystals and her Khajiits." He pointed to Thiah. Why Thiah? "That's Boethiah." Figures. "She's that sister that you have that used to beat you up for no reason at all. You know that bitch in the cafeteria that's always dressed in black and chewing bubble gum. The general person that hates the universe and would fight anyone that gets in her way, or out of her way, or even exists somewhere near her way." Sounds like Gwen, actually. Sanny pointed to the giant blob of Hermeaus Mora. "I think you know Hermeaus Mora. He's the know it all. Always reading books and stuff."

"Yeah. I know him. He mind-fucked me once." I could not wait to kill him.

Sanny laughed. "Awe… Hermy lost his mind virginity?" He clapped his hands. "Can I mind-fuck you now?" I shook my head. Sanny shrugged it off before pointing to the giant centipede. "That's Namira. You ever meet that one person that says that they like things 'ironically'? Well, that's Namira. She embraces all things weird and ugly to normal person's standards. Just imagine any hipster and you will probably find someone in league with Namira." He pointed at the massive thing of skeevers. "Believe it or not, that's my older brother Peryite. He's… um…" Sanny started scratching his horns. "He has a personality trait, I'm sure of it." He finally shrugged it off. "Whatever. He's petty. He really likes his diseases and poisons and… that's it. He's a chemistry buff." He shrugged it away.

I nodded to Sanny. "Thanks for explaining all that to me, but… any idea what's going on in here?"

He shook his head. "No idea, but everything is just so… fuzzy. I think I need a drink." I bottle of wine appeared in his hands. "You want a drink?" When I shook my head, Sanny shrugged and started drinking from the bottle. "Your loss." He said as he guzzled the wine.

"Vess!" Seth called as he limped right next to me. "Wait… what's going on?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. But from what Sanguine tells me…" I pointed over to everyone. "There are Daedric Lords everywhere in this room… and they're all fighting."

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Sanguine asked as he scratched his head. "It's like I'm supposed to remember something… something important. Like I was told something and told to do something or talk to someone." He tapped his head, trying to figure it out. "Why won't I just remember?"

The ground started to shake. The Nord shouted something in some weird obscure language and the coffin began to shift. The lid popped open and all the fighting stopped. There was a growing silence as the coffin opened up and a dragon priest began to float out into the room. And just like that… all oblivion broke loose. The Nord that woke the dragon priest up started stabbing him with a knife. The dragon priest grabbed the Nord by the face. One second, the Nord had a head; the next second, he did not. With the headless Nord falling to the ground, it was up to Namira to attack the dragon priest.

"Do not let her consume Vahlok!" Boethiah screamed as she sprinted away from Hermeaus Mora's army over to Namira. I still had no idea what was going on.

I looked over to Sanguine. "Any idea what's going on yet?"

He scratched at his head some more. His eyes were glazed over, like how Talvas's were whenever he's underground. "Vahlok. I remember that name, but why?" He started pounding on his head before he suddenly jolted. "Oh… that's right. Mephala mentioned him at the party."

"Who?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Mephala. She's like that noisy little sister that always looks through your stuff. You know the type. She's always getting you in trouble with your other siblings and parents by saying you did this, or you did that. Even if it's not true, she's able to spin any tale that will get you in trouble."

"Why does that sound familiar?" I scratched my head as I tried to think of anyone that did that to me previously. I couldn't bring anyone to mind so I dropped it immediately.

Sanguine waved my thoughts away. "Anyway, she told me that Vahlok some really strong dragon priest. Killed another dragon priest a long time ago. This matters because…um… something about killing him will do something. Something about Miraak."

"Miraak?" I started thinking about that vision I had of that guy wearing that really odd mask. "That's the name of the guy that works for Hermeaus Mora. He wants to take over Tamriel, or something lame like that."

Sanguine nodded. "Yup. He's working with Hermeaus Mora to take over Tamriel, that's right." Sanguine turned to pat me on the head. "Good job, cutie. I'll let you kiss me on the cheek as a reward." When I stepped away from him, Sanguine sighed and looked over at Boethiah as she started fighting Namira. Hermeaus Mora and his army were advancing to fight her. "I can't remember what she said about Vahlok though. I can't remember what our mission was. I was so sloshed that night." He closed his eyes in thought.

"I remember!" A loud screechy voice came from behind me. Out of nowhere, that sharply dressed old man with the weird cane appeared behind me. I quickly stepped away from him; the last time I saw him he turned me into an Altmer.

"Sheogorath?" I squeaked.

He looked at me with curious eyes. "I thought I turned you into an Altmer. Didn't like it? Perhaps something a little more… fishy?" I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that I didn't like it. "Maybe a tail, some gills, black soulless eyes, and blue scales?" Oh gods no. I can't get in Seth's pants if I don't have the part that complements his. And I don't want to swim the rest of my life.

Sanguine got in the way of course. "She's my cutie, not yours." He stepped in front of Sheogorath, pushing him away from me. "If you want to torment someone, go pick on your…that girl you're always talking about."

Sheogorath smiled as he pointed over to Ruby. "I'm counting down the days as we speak. The 8th of Evening Star…. Oh, what a wonderful month it will be. I'll have extra fun with her on the last day, on the 7th of Morningstar. Oh… I can't wait." He had this really sick smile on his face, one that made me cringe. He was going to torment Ruby for a whole month? I suddenly felt very sorry for her. Sheo sighed with a heavenly gaze at Ruby as he pulled out a picture of her from nowhere. "She's been quite a handful for me lately. Not doing anything heroic, or random. Or even crazy. She's become quite sane. I can't wait to make her furless. So many things to do, so little health." Ok, I'm officially scared for her.

I looked around for the others. Ruby was still trying to heal Mirri. Father was trying very hard to help Boethiah fight Namira, but that mage was drawing him back to his battle. I couldn't help but feel lost. "So…what should we do?" I looked over at Seth and then at Sheogorath and Sanguine. "Are you two going to help us?"

Sheogorath brushed his beard. "I hear no reason worthy enough to get myself involved."

I pointed to Ruby. "You want to torment her, right? In like a week from now. You can't do that if she's dead, which she might if we don't help them fight the Daedric Lords running all around the inside of that room."

Sheogorath's eyes widened out. "That… that is very true. Can't celebrate a sweet 16 if someone's not alive for it." He snapped his fingers in anger. "Oh, fishstick. I guess I'll have to help the Chimer." When I looked down at my hands, I could see that my skin was golden. Dammit!

I looked back up at Sanguine. "Sanny?"

He nodded. He picked up my hand, kissing it gently. Wow… wish Seth would kiss me like that. "You'll always be my lovely ashling." Just like that, I was turning back into a Dunmer. I watched as a wave of my light charcoal skin washed over the golden skin. I was so relieved to be a Dunmer again. I hate that Sheogorath keeps trying to change me.

Seth smiled as he watched me change back. "Why, you look just like the depictions of old Lord Vivec." That didn't last long as my other hand started turning gray too. I was so happy to be back to normal. Not that being Chimer would be a bad thing, but… I'd be the only one in existence. And that would draw more attention than I could ever want.

Once I was back to normal, I looked at the two weird Daedric Lords. "Ok, so… exactly what are we doing?"

Ruby finally looked over at me. "Veselle, you're here!" She screamed to me. Ruby's eyes widened as she saw Sheogorath. "Sheo? What? Why?"

"You forgot when, who, and sometimes where." Sheogorath added. He looked over at me. "Oh… and you say anything to Ruby about her birthday, and I'll rip out your intestines and feed them to your boyfriend." Wow… that seemed very harsh.

I found myself nodding. "Um… I promise not to say anything."

"Wonderful. To celebrate, I will pluck out your eyeballs and replace them with something sharp and pointy." Um…

I started to slide myself behind Sanguine. "I already have a Daedra Lord that likes to cause me pain and misfortune."

Sanguine smiled. "Can I , can I really?" He looked back at me, giving me what looked like a puppy dog pout.

"If it keeps Sheogorath away…" I mumbled. He says some of the most disgusting and disturbing things. Tear out my intestines? Replace my eyeballs? Who says stuff like that?

Seth nudged me. "Um, Vess." He pointed to the giant war going on inside the room. "What are we going to do?"

I looked around for any indication of what we should be doing. I figured it was best to start with helping those who knew what was going on. "Ok… So… Sanguine, I want you to go back up Boethiah. Just get a good idea of how you can help and then do something. Sheogorath, just…" Could I even order the mad god around? I looked at Sanguine. "Um… can you ask him to do something?"

Sanguine nodded. He looked at Sheogorath, patting him on the shoulder. He pointed over to Azura. "Hey, Sheo. Remember Azura?" Sheogorath nodded. "Remember that night she helped you bake that perfect pie?" Sheogorath nodded again. "And remember how you said that you'd always look after her, even if she ended up on your bad side?" And once again Sheogorath nodded. "Well, she needs help fighting Peryite. Think you can help her?"

Sheogorath smiled. "I'll just feed those nasty skeevers some of my moldy boot cheese!" He raced off to go help Azura. Ok, so… that took care of Sanguine and Sheogorath.

I nodded to Sanguine. "You can go help Boethiah now, if you want." Sanguine nodded and raced off to help Boethiah.

I looked over at Seth. There were only two other fights going on right now, one with Dad and one with Ruby sitting over Ruby. I knew who I wanted to be next to. "Ok, Seth. Go help Dad out, and I'll go help out Ruby."

Seth gave me a weird look but nodded. "Ok, Vess. Just be careful, ok?"

I nodded to him. "I will, Seth. You just take care too." Looking at the massive room exploding with all sorts of Daedric magicka, coming from the strongest beings in our world, I could only guess that we shouldn't be anywhere near this fight. We had no ability to move efficiently, no magicka at all, and we're still just students. I can't summon my partners and I don't have any of my staves on me. Talk about mission impossible. I looked over at Ruby, seeing her watch as Mirri cried in pain, clawing at her chest. I had to go help Mirri and Ruby.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Boy... this chapter just went on, and on, and on, and on ... and blah blah blah. At least we got some fun little comparisons out of Sanguine on this thoughts about his Daedra brothers and sisters.  
_


	42. The Love Gun!

**Cearbhail**:

_Um... wow. Umm... I'm like almost late for leaving for work. I wanted to get this done. Been working on it for what? Two, three days now? Not even sure. Sorry it's taking me so long with these. But, you'll love this chapter. It's everything I wanted it to be and more. So much more. I couldn't stop laughing as I thought all this up today.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_So… it's still the same day, probably around 7:30ish. Seth and I finally made it across the astral bridge thing. I almost fell into that nasty water but was spared that fate when Sanguine popped up out of nowhere to save my life. So, we come into the main chamber to find that like half the Daedra Lords in existence are all here and are all fighting for the same reason… because they all want Vahlok to either die or stay alive. And since Mora is trying his best to get Vahlok killed… I'm guessing I want to keep him alive. Mora is really trying to take this island over so, I should try my best to keep him from doing that._

_Anyway, there isn't much to talk about. Ruby's busy trying to heal Mirri, who seemed to get her wounds reopened in some fight. Dad is trying his best to fight a mage that seems to be just as strong as he is. Seth is trying his best to help, but without magicka, the two of us are pretty well outmatched. Uh-oh… someone is walking over to me. That Nord that got his head blown off by Vahlok is standing up and walking over to us, with no head… jeez. I'm seriously creeped out!_

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

"Um… Ruby…" I couldn't take my eyes off of the shambling headless corpse walking towards us. "There's a dead guy with no head walked over towards us?"

All I heard was a scoff. "What? Is it Morndas already?" I looked over at her to see her focusing on an arranged circle of crystals. They were glowing and surrounding Mirri in what looked like focused healing magicka. Ruby looked up from Mirri over to me for a second before looking at the shambling corpse. "Ok… not going to lie, I've never seen anything like that." She tried to smile as she looked over to me. "Um… good luck."

"Good luck?" I looked over at the corpse. "I have no magicka, my muscles are so sore that if I move at a regular speed I usually end up falling down… and you're going to ask me to _fight_ that thing?"

Ruby shrugged. "I'll trade you. You can sit here and heal Mirri and I'll go kill the walking dead. It'll take me a few seconds at most. I mean… come on. It has no head! It can't be…"

"Yeah, no head. It can't feel pain, it shouldn't even be alive!" I screamed at her. Wait… what was I saying? I've taken on plenty of things way stronger than me. And I've always come out on top. I found myself turning around. I tried to clench my fists, but all I got was a soft pain in my forearms when I tried. "Ok, I'll try to kill this thing. Got any advice?"

"Don't aim for the jaw? Or the temple, or the eyes… or the…"

"Ok, I get it." I shook my head. I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with a Thane of Skyrim. If I keep this up, I might actually feel like a hero or something. Might as well just get this over with. If I'm lucky, perhaps I'll unlock a new spirit or something. I looked back at Ruby again, hoping that she'd suddenly develop time to help me fight. "So… have anything I can use to help me fight?"

"Sorry, all my crystals are currently in use. Except for this McGuffins Quartz." She held up a shining rainbow filled clear quartz crystal.

McGuffins Quartz? Never heard of it. "What's it do?"

Ruby shrugged. "I… I… huh… I don't remember." She scratched her head. "But I know it won't help me this minute, but it might help you." She tossed it over to me. I reached out, grabbing the McGuffins Quartz. There was a slight pulsing in my hand which quickly went up my arms, and entering the rest of my body. It was like this vibration joining mine, kinda like the heart stone I had to use a year ago. Then, as if by a miracle, my aura lit up on fire. Magicka! I had magicka again! I felt a thick laugh come from my throat as I started to turn around. With the bottomless energy coming from the McGuffins Quartz, I felt like I could do anything, anything I needed to do without needing a proper explanation as to why. I laughed as I turned to face the headless zombie. "Come get me, you piece of subpar reference!" I stuck my hand out, which was wrapped in my thickest of flames.

With one blast from my hand…

…

With one blast from my hand…

…

WITH ONE BLAST FROM MY MIGHTY GODS' FORSAKEN PALM!...

Gods… why can't I use my fierfekla magicka? I looked down at my hand, still surrounded in flames. And the flames suddenly snuffed out with that magicka version of a raspberry. Dammit. I looked at the McGuffins Quartz to see that it was no longer glowing. I looked back at Ruby, shrugging. "Hey, this crystal isn't working."

"Huh…" She looked over at me. She shrugged. "Sorry, it does that sometimes. You know… when the plot demands it and stuff." So… the plot demanded that I don't have the ability to use magicka? That sucks, that sucks so badly.

I tossed the quartz aside, bringing up my fists. If anything, my muscles didn't feel so sore now. Maybe it healed me? Who knows? I'll take what I can get. So, I wasted no time at all and charged right for the zombie. The shambling corpse stuck out its hands to meet me but _I_ actually _knew_ how to fight. As soon as I came close enough, I jumped into the air, using my sprint as my leverage. I slammed both my feet into the corpse's chest and pushed as hard as I could. My legs screamed out in pain, my chest too, but I pushed for it.

I managed to launch the zombie back a few feet before crashing hard onto my back. My entire body shot up in pain, and all the breath I had collected blasted out of my lungs. I was suddenly paralyzed. Great… pain. I hate pain. I really hate pain. And I hate it when I can't stop being in pain. And I could already tell that I was not going to be standing up anytime soon. That was a pretty hard hit onto my back. And normally, I'd just roll up and keep on fighting. Not when you're recovering from a nearly death experience where you almost burned alive and only survived because you had an awesome healer fix you up. You tend to stay down when that injury rears its ugly head up. And I just hit rock bottom, almost literally this time.

So, I'm squirming on the floor, writhing in pain, when that zombie thingy slowly dragged its legs over to me, stopping to lightly kick me as it bent down to grab me. I tried to fight off the zombie's hand but I found most of my strength gone. My breath hadn't caught up with me yet, so I couldn't just hold my breath and force some sort of magicka explosion. Normally, I'd just light myself on fire and let my emotions of fear and anger do the job for me. I'm too tired to feel scared enough to produce magicka out of nothing. I just want to go to bed. So, when I was hauled off my back and up into the air by the zombie's one arm… I was pretty well done in. I think I knew it too. I was dead. I was so dead.

…

If that's the case; if I'm going to die. I might as well go out kicking and screaming. And I know just the spot to kick. It always works with boys. I tried to kick my foot out and tested its reach. On the first try I hit the zombie's thigh just shy of my zone. And it caught the zombie's attention too. He didn't want to be kicked there, and he knew I was aiming for it now. He started to throw me away, but fear caught up with me. I kicked with both of my feet. I basically rapid kicked him in the crotch, maybe six or seven times total. And it worked. The zombie dropped me. And I ended up on the ground again. But I didn't hit as hard this time. I managed to roll myself up onto my feet, the world spinning around me, but I had something in me now. I looked over to the zombie scrambling around. He was trying his best to stay up. I could do this! I just needed something.

"Veselle!" Boethiah called from the other side of the battlefield. A giant spear appeared in her hands. "Take this!" She threw it over to me, and out of nowhere I managed to catch the thing. It was clearly a naginata. Huh… I think I would have guessed a naginata would make a perfect weapon for me. It was a blood red naginata with an obsidian blade. It was so light and balanced. Trust all Daedric weapons to be balanced and deadly. So, I used the naginata butt to push myself back onto my feet. When I was standing, I let myself catch my breath before I spun the naginata around like it was a bo staff. It felt like it was made for me. Perfectly crafted to who I was as a fighter. Ha! This beats any McGuffins Quartz any day.

I screamed a kiai, which almost made me go into a coughing fit, and charged right for the zombie. I knew the proper distance for using a long distance pole weapon like a spear. So, when I got close enough, I spun myself into a slash. I caught the zombie right in the legs, slashing them both off in one slash. I didn't feel tired at all from doing it and I threw myself into another spin. I caught the zombie right in the chest, cutting off both arms in the process. The corpse fell to pieces. And I thought that would have been the end of it. I was wrong. Oil was leaking from the zombie. Huh… weird black oozy stuff. I can only think of one being that would use an empty corpse to fulfill to accomplish his ends. Hermeaus Mora.

The body exploded into a thick oily mess. It formed into a massive thing about the size of a giant. "The fuck?" Ruby called from behind me.

"It's a Lurker!" Dad called from across the room. "Veselle, back up! I'll kill it for you." He was about to help me but a wad of lightning crashed into him. He raised a Shield just in time but he had to turn his attention off me before he was overwhelmed by his advisory. "Sorry, Veselle. I can't assist."

"I can!" Seth screamed as he ran up to me. More like shambled over to me. I saw the Lurker turn his attention to Seth. He saw Seth as weak, prey, something it could quickly kill. The Lurker was probably right. As soon as the Lurker turned to attack Seth, I jumped in to intercept. Being made out of Mora's oozy oily stuff, I should have expected that the thing could grow its arms out longer or something like that. Its right arm turned into a whip or something like that and it slashed at Seth. I was still trying to sprint over to meet the attack. As I got close enough, I used the naginata to push myself into the air, basically pole-vaulting into the sky. I spun the naginata around me as a rotating shield until I crashed into the whippy limb. I slashed right through it.

The Lurker cried out in pain, stumbling back. Daedric runes appeared on the naginata, burning brightly. I could see a dull fire on the naginata's tip. I could see the same dull fire on the Lurker's severed whip-arm. It was preventing the Lurker from regenerating, I could tell. Man, I am just awesome! Even when I'm dead tired, can't use magicka, and can barely stand on my own two legs. Speaking of which… that was a pretty hardcore move I just did. And… there go my legs.

I ended up crashing onto my knees, out of breath, out of energy, out of everything really. I just wanted nothing more than to sit here and die. With the Lurker just recovering from his earlier assault, growing as he glared at with his purple glowing eyes… yeah, I pretty much figured that I should just stretch out on the ground, paint a target on my body somewhere near my heart, and take a nap. At least I'd go out peacefully.

The Lurker growled as he whipped his other arm at me. "Vess!" Someone grabbed me from behind, lifting up and tossing me aside like a rag doll. A giant Shield of Frost surrounded us right as the Lurker came down slashing. I was too drowsy to open my eyes by now, but I was happily curling up in Seth's arms.

"Thank you, Seth." I yawned into his arms as I leaned back against his broad chest. … Broad chest? Seth doesn't have a broad chest… or muscles. Wait… Seth also can't use Frost magicka! My eyes snapped open to see myself wrapped up in Talvas's arms. Frost surrounded us.

"Talvas?" My voice broke. "What? How? When? … Huh?"

Talvas smirked as he patted me on the arm. "Just sit down and relax. You've done enough."

"Damn straight she has!" Mom said as she walked into the room. Gwen and Azarien were right behind her. Mom walked strong in her stance, even if one of her legs was a little corpse-ish. "She's gone and done too much on her physical therapy today. I'll be lucky if she will even be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning."

I let my body relax. I was so safe now. I looked up at Talvas, smiling at him. "Thanks for saving me, Talvas."

Talvas didn't exactly roll his eyes but he did rush himself to stand up. "Well, time to go kill things." He pulled out his thermos filled with his sujamma. He was probably already halfway drunk. He looked over to the Lurker, holding up his thermos as he took a deep drink. When he pulled his thermos away, he pointed over at the Lurker, smirking. "You dare touch my friend? I'm going to kill you before you ever knew what happened." The Lurker looked confused, but that didn't stop it from slashing with thousands of whips sprouting from all around his body. Talvas's hand glowed with Frost magicka and when he launched it forward, every inch on the Lurker was covered in Frost.

Talvas turned around, screaming, "Gwen, now!"

"I'll destroy you!" Gwen screamed as black flames exploded out of her body. The flames gathered around her body, forming into a massive ball of black energy. She launched the ball of flames like it was a wrecking ball right at the Lurker. And I watched as the Lurker exploded into flames and ice. The Lurker screeched in pain as it rained down on us all.

Mom nodded appreciatively. "Well, we showed up just in time." She winked over at Dad. "Thanks for the message. Would have hated to miss this." She looked from Dad over to Hermeaus Mora. "So… Mora is the reason we're all suffering on this island."

"ENOUGH!" Hermeaus Mora screamed. The entire room shook. That feeling of that dark energy pushing on me intensified. There was a pulse of energy and everyone went flying. Even the Daedra Lords were blasted off their feet. Mom and Dad tried their best to keep themselves up on their feet, but they ended up flat on their backs too. I was pressed flat against the floor too. I was so tired, I doubted that I would need incentive to stay down. "YOU LOT HAVE GOTTEN IN MY WAY LONG ENOUGH." That pressure continued to push down on us.

I think at that point everyone started to pass out. I only say that because I would hear Talvas and Ruby both snoring. I felt drowsy too, but not more than usual. So, I watched as Hermeaus Mora looked around at us with his hundreds of little eyes. He glanced at me. "You seem to be the only one still awake, little girl." His tentacles glided over to me and I knew that this was going to end badly for me. Again.

"Sir, she has no energy; no ability to move her body. She is incapable of stopping us now." My old spirit Anari said beside Hermeaus Mora. A dozen more just like her surrounded the god.

Hermeaus Mora looked over at Anari with all his eyes. "Do you suddenly see the fates of all? Do you suddenly know how this story ends?"

"If I had the power you held, I would know that could not change that is written in stone." Anari explained cautiously.

If Hermeaus Mora could scoff with his oily mouth, he just did. "Do not think you can lecture me on the proper etiquette of misusing the fates of others to benefit my own ends." More growled out. He looked down at me, his oily tentacles wrapping around my arms. He lifted me into the air, pulling me towards him. When I was a few feet away, he stopped and began wrapping more tentacles around my body. "Are you ready to meet your fate, little girl?"

"Are you?" Seth screamed from the ground.

It took both Hermeaus and me by surprise. I was surprised when that naginata from earlier appeared a few inches away from my head. Hermeaus was surprised when that same naginata slammed right into his huge middle eye. Mora screeched in a way that made him sound more like a servant than anything else.

Hermeaus' tentacles released me and I fell straight to the ground. All those floating Seekers turned their attention at me, blasting me with their green lightning. And as I fell, I knew that I was as good as dead. But… I didn't land on stone or anything like that. I landed on something else. I fell on top of a pile of sleeping skeevers. Or dead skeevers. Hard to tell actually. When the lightning fell down around me, I used the same skeevers as a shield. I buried myself underneath them and witnessed the exciting show of skeever muscles twitching uncontrollably all around me. As Hermeaus Mora ripped the naginata from his middle eye, he let if fall to the ground, where it landed in one of the skeevers.

"See to it that the Priest dies!" Hermeaus Mora hissed to his seekers as he started to vanish into a portal he summoned. He was still nursing his bleeding eye as he left. "And kill those two children while you're at it." With that, Hermeaus Mora was gone. I could still feel that pressure pushing down on top of me, trying to keep me pinned to the floor and out cold. I'm guessing everyone was not going to be getting back up for a while. Why not? Why were Seth and I the only ones not affected?

The lightning continued to crash down on top of my nest of unconscious skeevers. I couldn't keep hiding down here like this. I had to do something. As it turned out, I didn't. There was a loud explosion near the ceiling. I thought it was Dad or Gwen or someone strong. But it was that dragon priest. He was blasting the Seekers with his staff. Ooh… a new staff. I would probably end up owning that by the end of the day. Which was in a few hours. Gods, I'm tired.

With the dragon priest firing down on the Seekers, the endless assault of lightning crashing down on my skeever bed was lessening. When the Seekers turned their attention away from me, I tried my best to roll out of the skeever nest. I grabbed my new naginata weapon and sprinted as fast as I could over to Seth. Some Seekers were turning their attention back to me. Lightning crashed down all around me, but I didn't feel anything actually hit me. Seth was on his knees, convulsing from whatever lightning hit him. When I crashed down on top of him, I felt his arms wrap around me. We pushed each other up and we ran away from the Seekers. More lightning crashed down on top of us, and if that wasn't enough, there were fireballs crashing around us too. The dragon priest was targeting us now too. Jeez… just everyone leave us ALONE!

One wad of lightning hit Seth and me pretty hard. Stars danced in my eyes and my legs finally gave out. Seth crumpled underneath my own weak legs. We both fell right to the ground. Lightning, lightning, and more lightning from every Seeker in the universe I'm betting, crashed down on top of us. Everything hurt. Gods, it hurt. My nerves were already pretty raw from being boiled alive from alchemist fire. I didn't need lightning coursing through my nerves too.

"Ok, I'm cross now." Anari announced. All the lightning ended. But I still heard lightning all around us though. When my vision started to come back, I looked up to see Anari fighting the other Seekers, those that still remained. She was washing them with magicka I didn't know she even had. "Oh, Kyuu." Anari said. "I summon thee." A portal ripped open right in front of her.

And out came my rolling ball of fur, Kyuu. "I'm finally here!" Kyuu screamed as he turned himself into a rolling ball of fire. And he went bowling for Seekers. Crashed right into the massive horde. Blew them up too. They're filled with gas, after all. They explode when exposed to holy fire. And Kyuu is filled with holy fire. So, the last thing I saw was the entire roof exploding into fire and gas.

I tried to cover my head as Seeker wrappings lit on fire rained down around us. Anari looked at me for a second, waving before vanishing into her own portal. She defended me. She actually defended me. And… I know it's going to suck for her when she gets back to Hermeaus Mora's realm. He knows a lot of things, like her betraying him. He won't like that. I almost felt sorry for her.

Kyuu started falling down towards us. "Vessy!" He screamed. "I can't stay." He announced. "You still have no energy to support my summoning. And my summoner is gone… so…" And just like that, he was vanishing into thin air. Huh… that was weird.

That just let me and Seth with…

I looked over to the coffin. Just standing there was the dragon priest. Flames circled around his body. His staff was glowing brightly though. And he looked ready for action. I really did not want to have any sort of fight right now. Especially against a dragon priest.

"Hey… can we just… not fight?" I screamed to the dragon priest. "No offense. I'm totally freaked out, you're very scary, and I'm very humbled by the very fact that you've not destroyed me yet. And I would like to stay that way, and I'm sure you would too. Not… not that I'm threatening you or anything. It's just that… I have a pretty good track record of killing dragon priests. I'm 1 for 1 so far. And I really hated that fight. And it ruined my favorite training robes. And as you can see, I'm wearing a really nice dress. And I'd like to keep it that way too."

"Silence, girl." The dragon priest screamed to me.

"And I'm totally in love with this boy… wait…" I couldn't help but notice he just spoke words. "You can speak Common?"

The dragon priest leaned on his staff. "You surprised? I was human at one point in my life."

I found myself shrugging. "Well… it's just… you know… you're a corpse."

"Are you sure you don't want to die?" He growled out.

"Nope, totally cool with staying alive, thanks." I shook my head. I looked down at Seth. He was barely hanging on. He was on the verge of passing out. "Hang in there, Seth." I whispered to him. I looked up at the dragon priest. "So, you're Vahlok, right?" He nodded. "So, I heard from my friend that you're like the only thing keeping Miraak from coming back to life."

"It is foretold that the day I am defeated Miraak's Will will crash down on the world, enslaving all the dragons and forcing a new darker age upon the world." Vahlok said. "I am the only mage strong enough to keep him at bay, the only mage capable of stopping him." He began to float over to me. "Unless, someone were to beat me in a contest of magicka and skill. And perhaps, the only one that can beat me is the same one that can resist the magicka of a Daedra Lord." Oh no… I did not like where this was going. "And Miraak will continue to grow in power until even I cannot stop him, or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps it is time for me to rest, and let a new guardian to take my place."

"We're going to fight, aren't we?" I asked as the dragon priest stopped halfway across the room.

The fireball racing towards me answered my question. I grabbed onto Seth's arms and tried to pull him away with me. His legs weren't working anymore though. And when I tried to pull him, I found myself unable to stand as well. The fireball crashed down on top of us. I had just enough time to wrap my arms around Seth and hug him close to me. When I heard the explosion, I half expected to feel myself burning to death. I did not. So, I opened my eyes and looked around. Blue flames were surrounding me and Seth.

Seth smiled as he looked up at me. "Vess." His droopy eyes were getting ready to close.

These blue flames were strong, I could tell. It was the only source of magicka for me right now. The only source of magicka for Seth right now. "Seth." I groaned as I reached down to lift him up to his feet. "Come on! I need your help right now."

The dragon priest roared at us. I felt myself get lifted from my knees and tossed into the air. I hit the floor pretty hard again, and this time I landed away from Seth. I guess he was tossed to the other side of the room. "And now what will you do? Without your friend?" Vahlok asked as he floated up to me. He ended up right over me.

I tried to smirk. "You wouldn't happen to have a pair of balls I could kick, would you?" I tried to laugh it off but I was so done. My naginata was a few yards away, Seth was somewhere else not near me, and I was completely unable to stand up.

Vahlok seemed to enjoy my joke. "You are an interesting girl, pigtails." He said as he aimed his staff at my head. "It is a shame you have lost this match."

My eyes drifted from Vahlok to something humming near my ear. When I looked over, I could see that it was the McGuffins Quartz. Wasn't that the crystal that Ruby said did exactly what you needed it to do when it needed to be done? So… that could be the one thing that could save my life right now. Unimaginable possibilities sitting right next to my ear. It was right within reach too. So, I reached out and snatched it, gave it a good squeeze to activate its mysterious powers. And…

Huh…

Why isn't the damn thing working?

"Any last words?" Vahlok asked as a fireball began to warm up.

I squeezed the crystal tight in my hand. "Choke on this!" And I chucked that crystal right at Vahlok. Clonked him right in the head.

And that seemed to work. He floated backwards, screaming, "My one and only poorly defined weakness!"

I used that time to scramble myself onto my feet. And I ran for it. I ran right for Seth. If I'm going to die, I'm going to die in the arms of my boyfriend. I heard Vahlok scream a curse at me. Fireballs crashed behind me. "Dammit! That McGuffins Quartz ruined my ability to aim! So convenient!"

I rolled to my knees, crashing right into Seth. He was already out cold. So, I did what I did best. I started slapping him in the face. "Hey, hey! Seth! Wake up!" I slapped the crap out of his face.

Seth started to come around. His unfocused eyes looked towards me. "Vess? What is it?"

I directed his head to Vahlok. "That's what's up." I took his hands. "We need to do something, or we're going to die!" I started to pull him up onto his feet.

He groaned as we started to stand up. "But what can we do?"

I didn't really know. No magicka, our bodies were as good as ruined. And my naginata… I forgot it when I dashed over here. I didn't have anything left in me. I can't move from my spot. I'm giving all I can just to stand here with Seth. If only we had some edge… something.

I looked around for something we could use. Dad and Mom were out cold. Dad had a staff, but it was the same thing as my naginata. Too far away, and not enough strength to get to it. But… it did give me an answer. Mom and Dad… they just taught us Compatibility not too long ago. I hadn't really tried it yet with Seth. We've done small pockets of it, but we never really honestly tried to do anything with it.

I looked back at Seth. "Seth… I need you to say it."

"Say what?"

"Seth… I need to hear it. I need an emotional boost. So… say it. Come on, I dare you."

"Umm…" He looked around. "Is this really the time?"

I shrugged. "Look. We can do this one of two ways. You can either say what I need to hear, or I can reach down and undo your pants for you." There, now he had to say it.

Seth nodded in defeat. "Vess, you know I don't need a reason to say it. I love you. You know I love you."

"And I love you too." And I leaned in to kiss him. And he kissed back. And it felt so nice. I felt new life coming in to join me. When I opened my eyes, I could see that there was a large blue fire surrounding both of us. "We need to use our Compatibility to beat this priest."

Seth nodded. "I'm ready when you are."

We took a tango stance, aiming our linked hands above our heads and the other set facing towards the confused Vahlok. Seth and I both linked our breathing together, focusing on each other, trying to feel what the other was doing. Our fires combined, growing stronger and stronger. It started to flow around us like a cyclone of blue energy. With a loud kiai from both me and Seth, our flames started to roll up into a single ball. As the ball collected more and more magicka, it condensed until it was a glowing mini nova. Seth and I continued to scream our wills at Vahlok. This was it. Time to end this.

"What should we name this move?" I asked Seth.

He smirked. "The Love Gun."

"I totally love that." I almost laughed at the thought of that name. "On three."

"One…" I started.

"Two…" Seth responded.

"THREE!" We screamed. "LOVE GUN!" And our little mini nova took off like a bat out of Oblivion. It slammed right into Vahlok. And that's all I remember. I couldn't stand it anymore. My vision blacked out. At least I could still feel Seth next to me.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_The McGuffins Quartz... now in all possible solution chapters.  
_


	43. Saving Throw

**Cearbhail**:

_This chapter is not at all what I planned on having when I started. Was going to... well... I'll just say down at the bottom. Why ruin it?  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today's the 20th. I know, I know… the day of the tournament. And last anyone knew… it was late 17th, and I was fighting a dragon priest with Seth. Well, stuff happened after that, stuff that kept me from writing in my journal. Well, to start with, the tournament has been cancelled. It would seem that on 18th, two days ago… stuff happened in Raven Rock. Dragons were beginning to poke their noses nearby, more towards the middle of the mountain. And if that wasn't weird enough, some of the tournament members were disappearing. From what Dad heard around town, some of the contestants started whispering some stupid mantra crap with the name Miraak... again… and they wandered out of town. A couple guards went to follow them and report where they went, but the guards never came back. Mom and Dad left to investigate what happened to the contestants, but they haven't returned either. With more than half the contestants for the tournament missing, they couldn't hold the tournament. Well… Councilor Morvayn decided to replace that tournament with a 'show up and fight people' thing. It's smaller, and there are way less of us. And trust me… I'm in perfect condition to fight now._

_So, what to say? The past two days, I've been resting in my bed, recovering my magicka and letting my muscles rest. Wasn't really my choice though. I just kind of slept through the past three days, and no one has even tried to wake me up. Mom and Dad are busy doing things, and as far as I can tell, I really needed the rest. When I woke up, I woke up without stiff muscles, so that's nice. I can walk properly again, and my magicka is back to normal. So… there's that. I guess I had Ruby to thank for that. I haven't seen her yet, but then again, I've only been awake for a few minutes. Teldryn left me a note telling me everything I needed to know about what was going on. He wrote in his note that he was in charge of my recovery until Mom returned, so… he healed me. I guess he's a healer too? I don't know how he did it. Ruby could barely heal my wounds past the recovery phase, and I couldn't summon Kyuu without my magicka. I wonder how I got healed so well._

_Oh well, now that I'm awake and ready to move, I think I'll go find everyone and see what's going on. If today is really the 20th, then it's time for the tournament. And last I checked… I still have to compete in order to keep Ruby and Mirri from killing each other._

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

So, waking up in Mirri's old room, yet again. Stripped of clothing again and wrapped up in bandages again. Even though I'm bandaged, I can tell that I'm not injured anymore. Even a small scan of my aura, I can feel my muscles not reeling in pain anymore. More than that, I woke up with fire dancing on my fingertips. That means I have my magicka back as well. And it didn't hurt to summon a fireball to my hands either. That's great.

Looking around the room, I can see that Ruby still has a little sleeping bag set up against the other wall. That meant she was still here. Her little backpack lied on top of the sleeping bag, that glowing McGuffins Quartz sitting right next to it. That crystal saved my life. If I hadn't chucked it at the dragon priest's head, I would have died before I could have joined with Seth. And then… we would have never mastered our Compatibility Spell: the Love Gun. And… since I'm sitting in my bed, wrapped up in bandages, I guess we won. I wonder how long we lied in that tomb before someone woke up and ended the fight. An entire cave filled with Dremora and whatnot, and then… what? It just ended? I highly doubted that. I probably missed the after battle.

Still focusing on the sleeping bag, I wondered how long Ruby would end up staying here. It felt great to have another friend that I could do stuff with. I just wish she'd get along with Mirri better. I didn't like seeing the two fight, and… if I'm right, the two are still going to try to kill each other in the ring today. I had to make sure that didn't happen. So… I pushed myself out of bed. My bandages were loose enough that it didn't pinch. Even so… I think it was time I took them off again. So, for the second time in a week or so, I had to take a few minutes to pull the bandages off my body, did a quick check in the mirror to see if there were new scars or whatnot (just the usual scrunched skin from the bandages), and then for the first time in a week or so… put on my training robes. And that took way too long. I missed having simple dresses to throw on.

So, dressing up in my black/gray robes was nice. It felt great that I was ready to begin practicing again. Then again, it felt great to just sit and relax for a couple days with climbing steps as my only real chore or training. I wonder what my training would be next. The last lesson was Compatibility, but perhaps it can change even more. What Seth and I did was combining our blue flames into one giant blue flame, but what if we combined different flames? Was that even possible? Our flames shifted based on our feelings, in this case the loving blue flames. They were only blue because whenever we were together, focusing on each other, we only felt that particular emotion together. So… what if we weren't using flames? What if I was using Ash and he was using Fire? It would be a lot like what Mom and Dad did with the Shock and Ash thing they were doing earlier.

It was something I would have to think about for later. I was no longer the novice I was when I first came here. Little less than two years and I've become something else entirely. Facing a dragon priest without the capability to move or summon magicka? Man… I hate to say it, but I wonder if I could actually face Ruby in a straight up fight. Huh… I hope the tournament is still on. I might not be as strong as Mirri in a straight up martial arts match, but when it comes to luck… no one beats me.

Opening the door to my room, I could already see someone I haven't seen yet. A tiny yellow Altmer, one that came up to my shin or something like that. She had one set of wings, like the ones on butterflies, bright orange like open flames; her hair just as bright orange and floating in the air. She was floating near my doorway, smiling at me. "Good morning." She said to me.

I nodded to the little… Altmer fairy thing. "Umm… hi?"

"Can Kyuu come out to play?" She asked innocently. Almost… too innocently. I should know. I know how I sounded around Talvas, and sometimes around Seth.

"Umm…" _It's ok, Veselle. She's a friend. A very good friend._ That's reassuring. I shrugged as I opened a portal to Kyuu. I launched it open and Kyuu came flying out, landing on the ground. The strange firefly floated down to join him.

"Hi, Tatianna!" Kyuu smiled as he bounded around her. "It's been a while."

"Well, we do live in two separate planes of Aetherius." She shrugged. "Still, it's nice to see you again. Shall we go and practice some moves?"

"You bet!" He grinned as the two of them raced off. Jeez… everyone's getting some but me. I really needed to work harder on that.

So, after seeing those two race off the way they did, I decided to go visit Seth. He was only one room over. So, I walked over to his room, pushing the door open without really thinking. And… well… I did not plan on this, I really didn't. Before anyone gets excited, he wasn't changing or anything like that. He was… well… playing a game with Zera. A simple board game. And they weren't alone. Ruby and Mirri were here too. As well as the goddess Boethiah. "Umm.. hi?" Well, aren't I articulate today?

Everyone looked up at me. "Morning, Vess." Seth nodded to me. Everyone pretty much had the same reaction. No one really stood up to greet me or anything. They just sat there and played their board game.

"So…" I looked around the sitting people. "What's going on? Why is everyone in here like this?"

"Waiting for you to wake up." Boethiah responded like she was bored with the idea. She looked up at me. "I am very upset. The tournament set up in my honor… the god of… well… whatever I am, and it gets cancelled on account of no one showing up but eight or so people."

"Still enough for us to fight." Mirri responded.

"And we could still have our own tournament." Ruby looked over at Mirri. "You know… if you really want to fight me."

Mirri shrugged. "I want to do this more." She picked up her dice and started shaking them around. "Ok… I roll… a 16 on my attack, a 7 on my evasion, and a …. 19 on luck."

Boethiah coughed into her hand, clearing her throat as she started warming up her announcing voice. "And with that, you ran forward to fight the ogre, slashing with your enchanted rusty mace… and just like any artifact supplied by the piece of shit Molag Bal… the rusty mace explodes on contact, sending his immortal soul into Oblivion to live a thousand years of being tickled by our sister: Mephala. You however, thanks to the many blessings of your true savior Boethiah" She gestured to herself, "gain a new better weapon, a naginata with unimaginable power. With one slash you slay the ogre, but not before being tossed aside by a counter-kick. He stumbles and falls over a cliff."

"Ruins and Dwarves?" I looked around at everyone. "You're really playing this game?"

Boethiah nodded. "I demanded blood of some sort, even if it's in game form. Besides…" She shrugged. "I really like this game."

"I'm enjoying it too." Ruby looked over to me. "I hardly ever get to play it back home."

Mirri scoffed. "What? The princess can't get enough friends together to play a simple game?"

Ruby, instead of growling, like I thought she would have… chuckled. "Ha! Something like that. What about you? Too busy plotting the destruction of an entire town to play something like this?"

"The contrary." Mirri said as she picked up her dice. "Father taught me many things, like this game, in order to prepare me for on the spot corrections in faulty plans and more importantly…" She rolled a 1 with her dice, "unlucky incidents."

"Mirri's character decides it's a good idea to jump off the cliff to chase after the falling ogre, just to make sure it's really dead. Just like our immortal hero, Gannondalf the Gray, she falls into the depths, sword and staff in hand, to make sure the ogre with the cleaved off head is really… really… really dead." Boethiah said as she glared at Mirri. "You're supposed to be my champion. Stop being stupid."

Mirri shrugged. "You glorify death and murder. I thought you'd enjoy this kind of mindless action."

Everyone laughed as Boethiah scoffed, looking away and crossing her arms. Did they not know that she could kill us all with a single breath? Or even winking her eyes? I heard the stories of Boethiah's Proving. I know what she's capable of. As I looked at Ruby and Mirri, seeing them laugh while looking at each other… what did I miss? Last I checked, they were at each other's throats. And… they were voluntarily playing a game together instead of fighting in some tournament.

"What is going on?" I almost screamed to everyone. Everyone stopped looking to look up at me. They looked curious. "I mean…" I looked at Ruby and Mirri. "You two don't want to fight anymore?" I looked at Boethiah. "And… you're still here?" I looked over at Seth. "And you're up before me? And, you weren't waiting for me or anything?" And then I looked at Zera. "And… I met Tatianna today. She's hooking up with Kyuu. Are you ok with that?"

Everyone just looked at me. Mirri was the first one to answer me. "I'm over it." She looked at Ruby. "She's annoying, but not worth the effort."

"Same." Ruby declared, looking away from Mirri, but I could see her smiling like she was having fun with it.

Boethiah answered me next. "Well…" She shrugged. "I'm a Daedra Prince. So… I can do what I want!" She stuck her tongue out at me in such an… immature fashion. Jeez, what kinds of people were these Daedra anyway? I thought they were dark and evil and stuff, but from my experience, they're either drunkard party goers like Sanguine, whatever Boethiah is, and that perverted tentacle monster guy who's trying his best to manipulate everyone into doing his service… oh… yeah… Mora is definitely the evil Daedra I think of when I think of evil Daedra.

Seth just shrugged. "I just woke up this morning." He moved his arm around, looking at it. "Feel good as new too." He looked up at me. "You feeling up to speed as well?"

I nodded. "Yeah… and I'm ready to resume training." I looked around the crowd. "So, my question remains… why are you all just sitting here playing a game?"

Boethiah sighed. "Kid, I'm going to level with you." She looked from me to Ruby. "You explain it."

"Me? Why?"

She glared at Ruby. "Because you've lived through it. What was the one thing you did when you finished your epic quest?"

Ruby had to think about it. She shrugged. "Well, I just sat around the Bards College and didn't do anything. I just vegged for a couple months and relaxed."

Boethiah nodded. "And… what do you think would happen if you didn't?"

Ruby shook her head. "Man, those months off were exactly what I needed. All that stress of trying not to die every day, fighting every second, and escaping ridiculous dragons trying to kill me… it gave me nightmares for a while. And if I hadn't taken those months off, I don't know if I would have ever learned to relax."

"Exactly." Boethiah looked up at me. "And, there you have it. You just, just, barely escaped being killed by a Dragon Priest. You survived because of your quick thinking. And… I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse. You need your rest now… before you won't get the chance."

Ruby sighed. "Oh, man… I really do not want to be part of some epic quest. I just wanted to come down, check out a giant rock, and then go home."

Mirri scoffed. "You're soft."

"I'm cute and fluffy." Ruby corrected. She looked from Mirri over to me. She finally let out a small sigh as she leaned against the bed behind her. "Besides, I have responsibilities back home. I have a busy family and… well… I belong with them." She smiled as she looked up at me. "I think you can handle whatever's going on. From what I've seen… I'm not the protagonist for this questline." With that, she started to stand up. She walked right up to me, patting me on the shoulder. "You can play as my character. I have to pack. My ship is leaving in an hour."

"Wait… you're leaving?" I followed Ruby out as she walked right past me.

Ruby led me back to the room we both slept in the past few days. When I walked into the room, she closed the door behind me and pulled out a small crystal. There was a light hum and I think… I think she just soundproofed the room. When Ruby was done with her crystal thing, she nodded. "Yes, I am. Already bought my ticket. I was just waiting to see if you would wake up today."

So… she was really leaving? I felt… I felt pretty torn up about that. I finally got to meet my hero and… I didn't really get much time to hang out and learn about her. We've talked, but more than that, I didn't get to fight her, train with her, or anything. "But…" I couldn't find my voice again. This was it?

Ruby smirked as she turned to her bag. "You think this is the last time we'll see each other? Ha! Please, I know an essential character when I see one. We'll meet again, I'm sure of it. Besides, I did what I needed to do. I helped you guys learn about what's going on here. And while I realize the gravity of what happened three days ago, I know that your family will be able to handle it. I'll pass on the news to High King Asger and he'll start making preparations to do something if he's needed here. Highly unlikely though. Your dad seems pretty headstrong. I'm sure whatever pops up, he and your mom can handle it. Not to mention you and your friends. You have a great little group converging; you even have two Daedric Lords watching over you. Normal people can't. Heck… I didn't even know Azurah was looking out for me until just three days ago. Between her and Sheogorath, I'm starting to think the Daedra Lords know what they're doing, and who they're choosing. Now… Boethiah seems to like you, and so does Sanguine. Why? I don't know, but they know what to look for. So… I'm rooting for you too. Even so, I shouldn't stay here. I'm needed back home. My dad's coming down to visit soon. Not sure when, and he says it's urgent so…" She shrugged. "I really can't stay."

She wrapped me up in a hug, and I found myself hugging back. It felt great to have another friend, especially someone that knows more or less what I'm going through with all this crap. "Well… see you?"

"Yup." She confirmed. When our hug ended, she turned back to packing her bag. She took the bed and started shoving it into her little infinity bag. I've never seen one in action but… it sure was weird to see an entire mat just disappear into the small bag. And when she was done, she took the McGuffins Quartz, looked over it for a few seconds, shrugged, and popped it into the bag as well. "I doubt you'd know what to do with it." She explained as she turned to leave. "Next time I see you, I might have to fight you. You know that, right?"

"What? Why?" That did not sound like something I wanted to experience.

Ruby smiled. "Just to see how much you've grown. And how much I have as well. And don't forget to just… relax. Go back into that room, play my old character, and enjoy your friends. Mirri seems better now, but… she still needs a good friend, and some time to relax. A good day of gaming will do just that. So… bye." With that, she raced up the stairs, leaving me alone in the hallway. And… wow, I felt pretty crappy now. So, instead of just standing here in the hallway like an idiot, I turned around and walked back to Seth's room.

Opening the door, I could see that everyone was waiting for me. I took a few seconds to look at everyone. No one was in their training robes, except for Boethiah. I suddenly felt stupid for dressing up in my robes if I was just going to sit here and play this game with everyone. A dress would have been so much simpler in the long run. Even Mirri was wearing an old shirt and some loose pajama pants. And she's all about her formal training attire. At least Boethiah was wearing her normal red Telvanni combat robes. Boethiah waved to me to sit down where Ruby was. "Veselle, it's your character's turn."

I sighed as I sat down next to Mirri. "Ok, so… what's going on?" I looked over the small board game where small Illusionary characters stood around the board. There were many variations, but my eyes seemed to focus on a small block of silver with a screaming Argonian inside it. I felt sorry for whoever got stuck with that character.

"You've been turned to stone for six turns now. You need to roll for your saving throw." Boethiah explained, pointing to the Argonian frozen in silver. Figures. "If you don't get your character unlocked by the end of this turn, you'll be frozen in carbonite forever." Well… thank you Ruby for getting me stuck in this situation.

So… is this why Ruby decided to leave me with her character? She couldn't bear to kill it herself? I sighed as I picked up the dice. "What do I need to roll to free her?"

"Your character's a boy. An Argonian Assassin." Gee… I wonder what his name was… "And since you're an Argonian Assassin, something capable to resisting diseases, poisons, and that has a very high will save… you need to roll a two or better to break out of the stone prison."

I picked up the dice and began rolling them. "And Ruby's been rolling 1's this whole time?"

Boethiah shrugged. "She seems to have a lot of bad luck…" She started chuckling at that. I wonder why?

I sighed as I rolled my dice. It landed on a 20. "Well. I guess that works."

Boethiah smirked. "I expected nothing less of you and your natural good luck." She clapped her hands. "And now… let the real game begin." She began laughing maniacally. "The streets will rain with the blood I will shed tonight."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Was going to do the tournament anyway and show Veselle kicking ass, but... then I realized, she needs a break once in a while. Especially since... well... everything's about to change. You should know why.  
_


	44. Don't Hold Your Breath

**Cearbhail**:

_well... things happen.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Dear diary of shadows,_

_Today is the 26th Sun's Dusk. The past few days have been pretty uneventful. We've been working on moving Mirri's stuff over to her new house in Tel Mithryn. First, we had to build the house, but that's pretty easy when I elect the services of Cute Girl Squad to help us build it. The tournament on the 20th had been official cancelled and so… they needed to do something. I spent the whole day playing Ruins and Dwarves with my friends. The whole campaign turned out to be a war against Molag Bal or something stupid like that. We ended the campaign with pulling down Molag Bal's pants and then pushing him into a cage filled with judgmental Daedra cheerleaders. It's weird but… I guess Boethiah knows how to mess with him or something? She went back to her Daedric Realm after the campaign had finished._

_So, Dad and Mom are still out doing things and that means Teldryn is in charge of us. Normally, I'm ok with this, but things are getting… weird. That pressure I've been feeling for a while is only getting worse. I mean… two years ago, when I went into the mine to find out what happened to the old man's body, I came across that really intense pressure that only continued to build as I made my way down the temple. That same pressure, the one that was coming from the Black Book… the one that belongs to Tentacle Rape Monster, I can feel it every day. It's getting stronger, and it feels like it's pushing down on us. I can see it's affecting everyone here too. Our steward, Drovas, spends his afternoon pacing around the town, whispering stuff. Our other neighbors are doing pretty much the same. Walking around in a haze… saying stuff. It's getting pretty bad. The pressure is getting worse… I…_

_I'm seeing things. I'm dreaming things. I feel like there are tentacles all around me, trying to choke me… control me. I think… I think I can feel these things around my friends too. Seth… he's not doing too well. We try to practice our Compatibility but… I feel this thing leaking over, like a controlled plunge into something inky. I can't explain it. The ash whispers to me when the wind calls. I.._

_When's Dad coming home?_

_Veselle Tenvanni._

_…_

Well, what to say about today? It's boring, I'll start with that. No, actually I won't start with that. It's not that it's boring; it's that I have nothing to do. Absolutely nothing. There are a lot of things I can do, but I don't want to do them. I could stand in the middle of the training circle and practice my magicka until my fingers fall off. I could summon Kyuu and play 'catch the apple' with him. Or… I could summon him and he'll go run off to be with Tatianna, his favorite new friend. More like girlfriend. I know what's going on while they're off 'training'.

So, what am I doing? I'm sitting in my room, looking up at the ceiling. Nothing is going on, not a thing at all. Every time I look out my window, I can see Drovas pacing around the town. He's just walking around, bumping into things… rummaging through my trash… poking my apple tree. Oh gods… he's at it again.

I jumped off my bed to my window. Drovas was standing by my tree, poking at one of the apples. I don't know why he does it… he just does. It's getting annoying. "Hey!" I screamed through my window, tapping on it to draw his attention. If I'm lucky, I'll scare him away. "Stop poking my apples! If you want one, just take one!"

He completely ignored me. "In the light of the temple…" He mumbled to himself as he poked my apple again.

"Oh gods…" I face-palmed. "Drovas, I don't want to hurt you. I actually like you; you're funny, enthusiastic… but if you keep poking my apples, I'm going to beat you up." He poked my apple again.

This… This was my week so far. Mom and Dad are still gone, still looking for the lost villagers. Brelyna is off with Teldryn… having a date. I don't know where they went, but I doubt they'll be coming back anytime soon. Brelyna said something about seeing the River of Magicka in Alinor. Don't know where that is, don't really care. Well, actually I _do_ care. It sounds like a great place to take Seth. Speaking of him, or rather… thinking of him, I wonder what he was doing right now. Him and Zera. I think I found out what I'm going to do today. I could also check up on Mirri. She's bound to be just as bored as I am.

So, I walked outside, closing my door behind me. It's so nice to have a door for my little house now. Since I've had nothing to do the past six days, I've been expanding my house, trying to make it bigger. I have a nice big tub now to drown people in… I mean… bathe people in. Drown? Since when did I think about drowning people? Or myself? Huh…. I think we need a therapist in this town. Drowning him sounds easy enough. What? Stop thinking about that kind of crap, Vessy! Why? Why not? Why the why not? What is going on with me? What's going on with everyone else? Praise Miraak.

"Miraak stands tall…" Drovas whispered through my window. It was enough to make me jump back. He was looking right at me, his red eyes focused intently on me. It was kind of creepy. I hated this… I hated this so much right now.

"Drovas…" I stuck my hand out at him. "You have half a second to turn around and leave my garden or else I will blast you with so much fire magicka you'll look like a hairless troll."

He stood there for a few seconds; and I guess he called my bluff. "In the light of the temple…" He started his whispering over again, turning away and stalking away from my window. Jeez… what is going on with him? With everyone? With me?!

I looked down at my own hands. I'm not usually this… violent. I almost cooked him with my flames. I thought about drowning someone! That's not me! What's going on? I allowed myself to catch my breath. Just calm down, Veselle. You can think through this. It's just… your nerves getting riled up. Just, take a deep breath… yeah… that feels like a normal thing to do. Hold your breath. Yup… just like that.

…

Um… You can let go now. Release your breath…

…

Why aren't you releasing your breath, Veselle? Not to alarm you or anything like that… but… your face is turning darker, purplish. Your limbs are starting to tingle. …

…

You do realize that if you don't release your breath soon that you're going to do damage to your brain… not to mention the amount of carbon dioxide collecting in your body will do bodily damage to you as well. And let's not even get started on the ballooning effect. You know… more and more gas building up until something goes 'boom'. If you want to escape those things from happening… you will… and this is very simple stuff I'm talking about. You just… have to… BREATHE!

…

VESELLE! Release your breath! Gods… Do something! Let it go! Don't claw at your throat like that. Pounding on your chest will not make you release your breath. You have to let it out… not beat it out. You're only making it worse! You're moving too much; struggling too much! You do realize you're making more carbon dioxide, which is flooding you only more quickly. It's a lot like drowning… only without water. You will pop soon…

…

Do you realize that you're beginning to lose your balance? That wobbly feeling… that achy feeling… that's not normal. You _are dying_. Do you want that? Really? No? …. You know what you need to do, Veselle. Breathe!

…

Why aren't you listening? I'm trying to help you! You only need to let it go… take that first step. You need to do this, Veselle. I can't seem to get through to you, but why? Aren't I always in control of you? Do I not dictate how you behave and whatnot? Are I not your inner voice… the thing you use to help you evaluate your surroundings? So… why Veselle? Why are you ignoring me? Why are you refusing to breathe?

…

Do you want to die or something? I'm doing everything I can to get you to breathe… and you're ignoring me? Aren't _I_ the one in control of your actions? Since when did _you_ get a voice in deciding how your life plays out? I won't let you die, not for one second! Even if you are me! I'm in control because I am you! And I'm ordering you/me to breathe! So… why aren't you? Why am I allowing myself to die? The world is spinning… my head is spinning faster… my head feels like it's going to explode. Why? Who is doing this? Why kind of spell is this?

…

I give up. It's getting harder to think. My vision is blurring… seeing me choke myself… punching myself in the chest to force a breath. Looking at my face in the mirror… how my mouth was open and how I was putting marks on my throat… seeing my fingers drawing blood as I tried to draw even the smallest breath… I was scared. But… I couldn't do anything. Why? Why aren't I listening to myself? Why can't I get me to breathe?

_"Hey, partner?"_ Kyuu's voice popped into my head. _"I'm going to just let you know something, something I think is pretty important. You're suffocating! Did you know that? What, did you suddenly forget how to breathe?"_

_I can't let my breath out!_ I thought urgently to Kyuu. _Something is wrong… I can't get my lungs to work!_

_"Oh… that's pretty bad. Um… hold on!"_ He responded back.

I looked around the room, trying my best to find something. My body was stiffening up. _"Just let it go… let go of everything… you… belong to me now."_ I knew that voice. That was Hermeaus Mora. _He_ was doing this! _"Oh… but you must know by now… you're doing this to yourself. You… you tried to stop me from killing the Dragon Priest… and then you killed him for me. You're my tool, Veselle. You always will be."_

I felt those slimy tentacles wrapping around my body again, and that's when I felt it… they were wrapped around my throat… constricting my lungs. _He_ was one not letting me breathe. He was trying to kill me! Why? Because I did something he wanted to do? That doesn't make any sense.

_"You would try to undo that which I have set in motion. You would deny me my victory… all for a cause you know nothing of. Ignorance! I hate ignorance. You… your family…. They study and toil away, trying to reason out my very plan. You cannot stop it… you cannot stop them. Nothing can. You would undo my progress if I let you live. The Dragonborn… he is coming. Which one it is that comes… is up to you… and me… And if you die… then it's up to me. And since I am the God of Fate… I will be the one to decide how this all plays out. Goodbye… little Veselle."_

It's worth noting that Hermeaus Mora speaks very slowly… and for him to say all that while choking me out… it was like two minutes of pure hell while I collapsed onto the floor. Two minutes while I writhed… listening to his voice… so… many…

….

Dad? Is that you? A hallucination? You're standing right over me… staring at me… but… I know you're not real. Why? Why am I seeing you? Is this my last relief? To die… seeing someone watching over me? Why can't it be Mom watching over me? Or my real father… the one that died?

…

…

This is it. I know it. I can't function anymore like this. It's been an honor to live, Veselle… you've been heavily lucky and fortunate to make it this long… but we both know how this story ends. It ends right here… right now. But… before we go… let's review some things we both know.

…

This all started with your father being an idiot. Messing around with research he never needed to do. He got us into this mess by messing with the heart stones. He set us on this course… he set all of us on this course the moment he picked up a heart stone and decided to learn about them. He wanted to learn how to harness its potential to become stronger. And then… to meddle in affairs that were not his to meddle in. He let his wife die… to learn more about the heart stones. He tried to hide you from your mother… tried to pass off to some random person, one of the best people you'll ever meet… and he let this person basically raise you into the person you've become today.

You've survived… lived all this time thanks to his preparations. Thanks to Mjoll, Karliah… and him. Thanks to the constant training in stealth, martial arts… cooking… everything but magicka… you've managed to make it this far. And now… all that preparation was for nothing. You are out of breath… out of time. Your brain… me… is shutting down. And… in a last ditch effort to save your life, I'm doing everything I can… every thought I can… to save it. So, until you learn what it is you need to learn… remember what it is you need to remember…

…

In order to justify our meaning of life… of why we exist, of why we make connections… to justify that we are here for a reason, not just to live and die… you need to do this! Remember, Veselle! Remember everything! You have to! I'm just your brain, you're the one that needs to think. I can only think if you _let me_.

…

Ok! I get it. We're out of time. We're on the floor; you're hallucinating; and your chest is already beginning to pop. Do you want to accept this? Are you really ok with just letting this Daedra Lord get away with murder? To stop you from becoming the thing he fears you will be? Are you really ok with letting Seth grow up without you? To let Zera cry over your corpse? Are you ready for that? Are you truly prepared for that?

…

NO! I'll answer that for both of us! We're both not ready. You want to know why I know this? Because… in spite of everything going on… in spite of everything you think we know… you're still thinking. You're still clawing at your throat... You're still trying to get to the middle of town… to your training circle. Because… in spite of everything we know… of everything you've forgotten… we both know one basic little fact…

…

Inside that training circle… not even a Daedric Lord can get to you. And you're so close now… so very close! You just need to move, Veselle! You're out of time… out of breathe. Roll credits… this is the end of the show.

…

…

Some might call this the light at the end of the tunnel… the time where you see your life flash before your eyes. Some might call this an awakening… some sort of realization of what you needed to learn, why you were born. Blah, blah, blah. Does that even matter in the end? You are born… and you die. That is the cold reality that we all face. The light at the end of the tunnel? The flash before your eyes? Why do we always focus on this detail before we die? So that we are reassured that we have something to look forward to when we disperse from this world?

Everything I've gone through…

Everyone I've met…

Every lesson shoved down my throat…

…

There has to be something I can use to get me through this…

…

"Veselle." Karliah? I… I haven't heard that voice in a long time, it feels like.

…

"Veselle."

My eyes snapped open, which didn't really help me. Stupid blindfolds. My hands were bound behind my back, my legs tied up. It was a lot like being constricted by some stupid tentacle monster or something like that. Man… this sucks. Why on Nirn did Karliah think I need to learn this today?

"Karliah… it's my 12th birthday. Can't we just… I don't know… eat some cake?" I asked while trying to guess where she was standing. She was so quiet that I couldn't even tell where she was even if I weren't blindfolded.

"Veselle, things are changing." Karliah whispered around me. "I'm now the Thieves Guild leader, and that means things are going to be changing around here. The Imperial Legion is now in control of the town, but the Stormcloaks will probably start trouble with us. If they do, they will bring war to the town. And that means… we're all in danger. So, if things begin to go south, I need to know you to know how to survive. So… this is lesson one. You're bound… and… well… you better take a deep breath."

"What?" Is the only thing I had time to ask before she pushed me. I didn't know I was standing on the dock. I didn't know the river canal was right behind me. I barely even had time to take a breath and close my mouth before I felt the cold thick…and oddly slimy water take me. It was so cold that I almost let myself lose the breath I had just collected.

…

I don't know how long I drifted down to the bottom of the canal. I thrashed as much as I could, tried to loosen my bounds. I couldn't get them to move. I tried to move my wrists but… it didn't work. They were tightly wrapped up. No good. And… I'm starting to lose it. I'm afraid of drowning…

I'm blindfolded, bound, and lying at the bottom of a canal. My lungs are screaming at me to let go of my breath, but I know I can't. I have to do this… holding my breath.

"Veselle, can you hear me?" I heard in my ear. "Don't be scared, I'm contacting you using an Illusion spell I picked up along the way. You've been down there for exactly 15 seconds. You need to calm down and focus. You will be down there for three minutes. If you fail and drown, I will bring you up, wake you up, and toss you right back down again, so listen now. If you're going to survive this, you need to control your breath. There is a special technique stealth operators like myself learn. You basically override your own brain… and you let yourself control your body. You say 'no' to the burning desire to breathe. That's your brain's fear… losing its air. You cannot waste time and energy focusing on what you can't have, but on what you need to do. And you know that… you need to get out of the water. You're bound, but you can still inch yourself. Try to swim. Do something. Granted, moving will exhaust you faster and make your collapse faster too. But… there we are. And guess what? It's already been a minute. You're so focused on me that you're still alive. Congrats on that. You have maybe 30 seconds before you pass out so… you better get swimming. If you reach the top of the canal, I'll count it as a win. So… get swimming. Bye, bye. Oh… and don't forget I'm doing this because I love you. I know one day this very lesson will be important. It always is."

…

It hurt. It hurt so much.

…

I can't see…

I can't breathe…

I don't know where I'm going. Blood in pounding in my head. But… I know it's helping. _"Veselle, you only have a few more feet to go."_ Was that Karliah? Was it Kyuu? I can't tell. Was I still thinking of the past, or was I back in the present. My hand was dragging me along the ground… but I could just as easily be swimming in the sludgy water. It's hard to move through this crap… hard to move myself along. It took me forever just to reach the bottom of the lake.

I wanted to die. No… not wanted. Sure I was dead, that's a better explanation. How am I still going? Sheer willpower? How many times have I relied on my luck and willpower to get myself out of a situation? _"You're almost there. Just a little further! Come on, Veselle!"_

I tried to move, tried to do anything at all. I reached out…my numb hand doing something. I can't tell what though. My body was doing what it wanted by now. I can't help anymore. I just have to keep going. That's all I know. Just have to keep moving. If I don't… I won't make it.

…

"Veselle?"

…

[Mirri]

What on Nirn was Veselle doing? I know things are getting pretty boring here but… to roll around in the mud? That's just weird. Still, it's not as weird as watching Zera roll around in the mud. Ok… it's pretty weird. Veselle is actually responsible enough to where she wouldn't do stuff like that anymore. Wait… that's right. She wouldn't do stuff like this anymore. There had to be something wrong.

"Veselle?" I asked as I bent down to see her. When I rolled her over, I was not expected what I saw. Her face was bright purple, her eyes almost bulging out of her head. Her mouth was wide open, gagging on something I couldn't see. Was she choking? I had to do something about it.

I flipped her onto her back. Time to do something I never thought I'd have to do. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for CPR. What were the steps? I had to breathe into her and then pump down on her chest 30 times. Is that correct? I think it was. So… here we go. I plugged up her nose and placed my mouth on hers. I tried to breathe in but… that's weird. It's like she already has air. Huh… so…

That's when I felt it. The presence of Daedric energy. It was gripping her throat like a hangman's noose. I had to help her out. Looking around for something I could do, I noticed Veselle's hands were reaching out for her training circle. It wasn't too far from us. That's it! She was trying to get to her training circle, where nothing can harm her! That's exactly what I must do.

"Don't worry, Veselle. Almost there." I said to her as I grabbed her arms. I started dragging her to the training circle.

"In the light of the temple…" I heard right beside me, from three different people.

I turned my head around. Standing in my way were Draseth, Zeratah, and Drovas. "Um… hi?"

I wasn't expecting them to jump me. I wasn't expecting Draseth and Zeratah to attack me with their flames spells. I barely had time to jump out of the way with Veselle in my arms. She was pretty heavy. That and I'm tired from my morning training. So, when I jumped back with Veselle, I tripped over her body, hitting my head pretty hard when I tripped over her.

Draseth climbed on top of me, pinning me to the ground. "Miraak is always watching." He replied as he pushed me flat. Now, Draseth is physically stronger than me. When I don't have the ability to move my arms… I'm pretty useless. Well, would have been useless. I've been training with Teldryn, my mentor. I know a few new things.

"PAIN!" I focused magicka into my voice, throwing the word out with as much malice as possible. It hit Draseth head on. He went from holding me down to flying off me, grabbing his head in immense pain. I'm not as good as Teldryn, but… it will do.

As soon as I pushed myself up, the other two… no… make that everyone in the village, came running up to me. "SLEEP!" I roared to everyone. And… it worked. Everyone started falling down. Even Gwen and Talvas went down after a second of hesitation.

I rushed up to Veselle. I grabbed onto her arm and just booked it for the training circle. I broke through the first two circles like they were nothing and made it to the center in no time at all. I don't remember which circle it needed to be but as soon as we got to the circle, Veselle made the loudest gasping noise I've ever heard. She clawed at me like she was blind, screaming bloody murder as she tried to catch her breath.

I looked down at her, happy to see that she was at least conscious now. Her chest was rising and falling very quickly. I looked around the town. Everyone was still out. What was going on? "Veselle?" I looked down at her.

She looked pretty groggy, but… she looked conscious. She glanced up at me. "Karliah?"

I shook my head. "No… it's Mirri. Who's Karliah?"

Veselle shook her head. "Sister. Where are we?"

"The training circle. Listen… the whole town's gone crazy. What's going on?" It was a long shot, but Veselle is always in the middle of everything going on around here. She might know what's going on.

"Hermeaus Mora… tried to kill me. He's trying to take over Solstheim." She responded.

"Why?" Why would he want this island anyway?

Veselle shook her head. "I don't know, I just know that he does. Need to find Dad… need to warn him."

"Don't worry…" I heard behind me. I snapped my head around to see Master Neloth and Mistress Ildari standing outside the circle. "we're already aware of the situation."

Mistress Ildari nodded. "And… we have a plan. Stay in the circle for now. Our actions might not be our own."

Master Neloth sneered as he looked over at Mistress Ildari. "I can assure you, my actions are my own. We both have spent a lot of time preparing for these situations. You have lived in the mind of a restless planet and spent your whole time fighting the control of Red Mountain. I have meditated to keep the heart stones from even penetrating my mind while I worked with them. And now… it would seem it is all coming clear. Hermeaus Mora… he is doing something. And now… we have to do something about it."

"So…" I looked at the two masters. "What are we going to do?"

Master Neloth looked at me. "You will remain here and watch Veselle. Ildari and I will begin our research. If anyone wakes up, just walk outside the circle and put them back to sleep."

"And what if whatever got them gets me?" Stronger mages like Gwen and Talvas were on the ground after all. They were going to come after me.

"If you were going to be affected… you wouldn't have dragged Veselle to the circle. You would have likely killed her. Once we knew what was going on, we rushed back to help the village. It appears we were too late." He walked past the circle, Ildari right behind him. "We have little time. We have to find out what it is Hermeaus Mora wants and why Miraak is involved."

So… I guess I'll just sit here with Veselle then? Nothing but the feeling of wind around me. And… and the desire to go to the bathroom. Great… what a great way to start my day.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_I honestly had NO IDEA where any of this was going. I honestly thought Veselle was about to die right there. But... this is how she gets to her comatose state in the first place. Remember the whole scene where Veselle sees herself lying in her bed, her father claiming that he would go find the Dragonborn. Well... we've begun. Veselle is down for the count... and it's only getting worse from here. Tel Mithryn hasn't even begun its construction yet.  
_


	45. Masked Worshipers

**Cearbhail**:

_This is it, everyone. Special guest. It's been requested for a long time now. Time to learn the truth. And... next chapter... well...  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Book of Shadows Entry: 4e207 27th Sun's Dusk_

_Scouting report of Raven Rock: The town has devolved into a confusing cluster of zombies. The citizens move around in a haze, speaking the same crappy lines our own villagers back at Tel Mithryn. They are continuing that project that they began not too long ago. So far, it seems they are in too much of a trance to identify me as a threat, and appear passive. Initial reports of masked individuals have been confirmed; spotted in town overseeing unknown structure's construction. Five in total so far, but more continue to pass through the island. So far the individuals are not passing pass the old fort. Townsfolk are peaceful, but masked individuals are an unknown, and I will not jeopardize Tel Mithryn's security in sake of satisfying my curiosity about the identities of the masked individuals._

_Scouting report of Fort Frostmoth: Fort is patrolled by walking ash monsters, I believe are referred to as Ash Guardians. Confirmed hostile, and incapable of dying. Perhaps I need to freshen up my knowledge of Ash Guardians and how to beat them, but as far as I can tell, as soon as I bring one down, it gets right back up. And I do not have the magicka available to continue hammering the defensive line. Fort Frostmoth is unnecessary objective anyway. Until situation at Fort Frostmoth becomes more stable, advise to stay as far away from the fort as possible._

_Scouting report of Tel Mithryn: Most of town's residents including high ranking mages such as Teldryn, Talvas, and Gwen, are busy building the same kind of structure over a nearby stone. Town residents act in a similar manner of the residents in Raven Rock: passive and comatose to all those around them. Even walking in front of them and punching them in the face yields no reaction other than going down and coughing up blood. On a side note: Gwen was heavily beaten up, all in the attempt of bringing her back. All attempts, with the exclusion of death, went unanswered. She muttered her casual mantra about Miraak and went back to work on the structure surrounding the stone. Reports on survivors: Master Neloth and Mistress Ildari remain unaffected. Mistress Ildari refuses sleep, hinting that some amount of her cognition might already be compromised. She spends her hours in her protection circle meditating, hoping to find out how to beat this Daedric Lord, or Miraak._

_As for Master Neloth, he is sending me on scouting missions while he researches new spells and programs new staves for defense. He hopes to find a way to break the influence keeping hold of everyone while Mistress Ildari tries to find a way to defeat the source of the influence. Master Neloth seems to think we need to head back up to the Skaal village to ask the shaman living there. As for Veselle… she hasn't woken up since yesterday. We've taken her to her room and the three of us remaining have set up a protection ward around her room, using the Power of Three Protection Circle. Veselle seems to be peacefully sleeping, but we're unable to wake her. We fear she might be trapped in an alternate dimension. I only hope that is not the case._

_Scouting mission of Solstheim in general: More dragons have begun swarming around the island. Some seem violent but in general ignore everyone under whatever spell this is. I was attacked by a dragon, speaking its language at me. I only understood 'Miraak' among all the dragon speech. This, I believe, confirms that Miraak's influence has reached to dragon's souls. The pressure of Miraak's presence has grown in strength as well to everything else going on. That is all on this scouting mission. Returning back to Tel Mithryn._

_Mirri Severin, Tel Mithryn Battlemage._

_…_

Finishing up my report, I closed my journal. I could not believe I managed to sneak all around Solstheim without drawing any trouble, with the exclusion of the ash monsters I had to encounter to see if I could bring them down. And upon learning that I could not bring them down, I had to fight through my retreat as six or more of them tried to surround me, and tried to kill me with all the surrounding ash. I'm not bad as an assassin, but when it comes to fighting immortal creatures forged out of the stuff that surrounds our island… I think I'd rather retreat. Of course, the only way I could escape the roaming tornados of ash was to run into the sea and dive under the water.

So, by the time I got back to Tel Mithryn, I was still soaked. I was pretty cold, and using my magicka to keep myself warm. Unlike Veselle, I can't use spells like Flames or Ice Shell. I was trained as an assassin, and as such, I studied energy manipulation instead of traditional spell-casting. I should probably start studying more conventional spells. I am a battlemage, after all. And I need to be versatile when it comes to surviving, otherwise, I will find myself in situations where I end up swimming in the sea to escape something I don't know how to kill with my chosen set of skills and spells. I'm going to talk to either Master Teldryn or Master Neloth about it. I need to improve my spell list. True, I've only been in this family for a couple weeks, and I have been studying with Master Teldryn with learning Vocal Spells, more like Vocal Curses, but you know… those only do so much, and they had no effect on the ash creatures.

Stepping into the protection circle surrounding Tel Mithryn's border, I felt a lot better. Still cold, still soaking wet, but better. Looking up at the massive cloud of drifting from Red Mountain towards us was unsettling. The clouds were so thick that I think it was going to blot out the sun completely. So much for a bright day today. It was probably going to look like night for the rest of the day, and with how big the cloud was… it would be hours before the sun would come back. Oh well, I need to give this report to Master Neloth.

I could see Mistress Ildari in the training circle, meditating. While the outside influence wasn't really hurting Master Neloth, her, or me, she found that meditating inside the circle where nothing could touch her helped improve her Clairvoyance spell. She was trying to find a way to end the nightmare beginning on this island. With Veselle stuck in her bed, moaning in pain… we couldn't do anything else. We even put up a new protection circle, the strongest we could cast as a Pact of Three thing… and the influence was still trying to reach her. Heck… even in the town, where nothing could really touch us, I could feel the influence of the Daedric Lord pushing down on me. The only problem was… for some reason I was unaffected.

Looking down at my custom ebony armor given to me by Boethiah, I think this armor might be the only thing actually keeping me safe. Maybe her armor is helping to block whatever Daedric influence that might be trying to get to me. So… if I put this armor on Veselle, she would be just fine. But then… would I be? I'm not more powerful than Gwen or Talvas, or even Veselle. And they've had training in Illusion and Alteration. I was brainwashed into killing for my father. I would probably be the easiest to command through an influential spell. I should just hold onto the armor for now.

As I entered the town, Mistress Ildari opened her eyes for a second to look at me. "Dear… you're soaking wet."

I nodded. "Things have devolved at the fort. There are these… giant cyclones of ash…"

She nodded. "Ash Guardians. So… they're back."

"Who's summoning them?" I asked myself aloud. There were so many of them, I couldn't begin to figure it out.

"I've been meditating on what we've learned so far… and I think I have a sound theory. I read your report on what happened with Veselle and Neloth, and from what Neloth mentioned to me about the existence of the Corprus virus and how Peryite, Namira, and Molag Bal worked together for form it. As soon as I learned of that, I began to look at my own body." She pulled out her arm, looking at it. I could see the withered arm, looking nearly zombiefied. "The same virus taking me when I was infected by the heart stone… is the same strain of virus that made up the Corprus virus. If those three were working with Hermeaus Mora to take over the world, then… it would stand to reason that whatever Hermeaus Mora wants out of using his old puppet Miraak… is what is also causing the creation of the Ash Spawn. The heart stones, they're just transformed Sigil Stones from Oblivion, I'm sure of it now. And my body… is mutated with Corprus. One that I found a cure for."

That sounded awful. There was so much going on here, so much I could not fight against. "What are we going to do then?"

Mistress Ildari shook her head. "Pray to our gods. That's all we really can do at this point. Deliver your report to Neloth. I will stay here and try to meditate on how to defeat these Daedric gods."

When she closed her eyes, I knew that the conversation was over. I rushed past her towards the tower. I didn't know what was going on anymore; I haven't since I moved here. First… I was in a fight… my father tried to kill me, I ended up with Master Teldryn as a battlemage for Tel Mithryn, and the… there was a tournament, which is when Boethiah showed up and forced us to help her find some dragon priest. We found him, was ambushed by several Daedric Lords, unleashed even more Daedric Lords… and at the end of the day… the only thing I knew was… I don't know enough spells. And that just like always… Daedric Lords can't die! So… how can we beat something that can't die?

I stopped running as I ended up near Veselle's little hut. I decided I'd go stop by really quick before heading up to see Master Neloth. As I pushed open her door, I could already see Master Neloth standing over her bed. He had a new staff in his hands, aimed down at her. It was glowing with magicka. "Sir?" I asked as I walked into the room. "Master? Are you alright?"

He turned to look at me. He looked dazed, confused. "Battlemage? You returned so quickly. I didn't expect you back for another five hours."

"Sir… I've been gone all day." I handed him my book of shadows, which contained the written report inside it. "I think you need to rest. You seem out of sorts."

He took the book from me, reading from it. "I need not rest. What I do need is answers. And for my daughter to get back up on her feet." He read the whole page before handing the book back to me. "Masked individuals? The whole town of Raven Rock… even Fort Frostmoth. This is not good. The days are getting shorter, the influence is growing stronger, and nothing I try to do to my students, or the structure they are building is not helping at all. We need to find a way to get rid of this plague at the source. What do we know about Miraak?"

I shrugged. "He was the first Dragonborn. That's what Boethiah said. And he serves Hermeaus Mora, who taught him how to do all this manipulation stuff."

Master Neloth nodded. "And that would mean… what?" He paced around the room, his staff glowing even brighter, keeping it aimed down at Veselle. "We're running around in the dark here! We need something, anything!"

"Master?" He glanced at me. I pointed to the tip of the staff. "What's the staff programmed with?"

"Staff? What staff?" He looked down to see the staff aimed right at Veselle. "I… I don't remember enchanting this staff. We should exit the room, very carefully."

I was the first one out of the room, and Master Neloth followed right behind. As soon as we exited the room, the staff only started glowing brighter. "I am not controlling this staff." He reported to me.

That didn't make any sense though. "If you're not controlling it… who is?"

"We are." I could barely hear from my left. When I turned to see who it was, I saw a few figures standing by our borderline, right where our protection circle border for the town lied. "You are harboring an enemy of Miraak. We have come to finish her."

At a closer look, I could tell that they were the same masked individuals that I saw in Raven Rock. "Master… those are the masked individuals."

The look in his eyes would kill lesser beings. "Let's go say 'good afternoon', shall we?" He turned so quickly that his lower robes did a little _snap_ near the feet. I kept up behind him, keeping my eyes for any other intruders that might be trying to outflank us. "What is it you want?" Master Neloth asked loudly as we got closer to the border. I looked over my shoulder to see Mistress Ildari watching us carefully from the triple protection circle.

The masked person in the middle of the group of six bowed to us. "Telvanni Lord Neloth Maryon, we ask of you to humbly lower this protection circle, or invite us in. We promise no harm unto you or you companions. We only seek… the girl." He pointed over to Veselle's hut. "Veselle Tenvanni. Her father misses her."

"I am her father." Master Neloth stated.

The masked person pulled his mask off. "I'm not so sure of that." When the mask came off… I was stunned… speechless… awe inspired… confused… and felt really left out of the loop with this one. He looked like an ordinary Dunmer.

Apparently, Master Neloth recognized him. "Brand-Shei Tenvanni?" He looked the man over and over. "This can't be… You died. Veselle saw you die." What? Who's Brand-Shei? How did Veselle know him? Did he live here? I'm so confused now.

"Aye… I did." Brand-Shei confirmed. "When Mehrunes Dagon invaded Riften two years ago… he crushed my cell, and me in it. And as I lay there, buried under rubble, barely able to breathe, what should happen to me? I heard a whisper… 'If you wish to betray death… just say 'yes'. And I said 'yes'. Best decision of my life. I was teleported out of the room and into Apocrypha. Lord Hermeaus Mora had saved me… and gave me _one_ order. He would bless me with magicka that even you don't know… and I had to do was one little thing."

Master Neloth started to sneer. "You betrayed me."

"You used me. I think it's fair."

There was an uncomfortable silence for the next few seconds. During that time, I felt so cold. When I looked down, I could see darkness rolling in to cover us. When I looked up, that giant cloud of ash was finally rolling in over top of us, blotting out the sun from our position. I did not like this… I did not like this one bit. "So…" Master Neloth growled out. "What is your _one_ order?"

"It's a voice command… Negate." The staff in Neloth's hands exploded into light. I was thrown off my feet by the explosion of energy. And when I hit the ground, there were people already jumping on top of me. What? How did they get in? I glanced for the border, but I didn't see it anymore. When I looked around, all the bordering was gone… even the one in Veselle's room. "Now…" Brand-Shei said as he walked past us. Master Neloth was barely able to stand up, rubbing his eyes madly as he tried to do so. "I will go get my daughter. I _did raise_ her, after all. Just be a good host and don't try to stop me. Otherwise, my men will kill your companions."

The two masked members holding me down were pretty strong. I couldn't just throw them off. And they had two wands aimed right at my head. "Master? What should we do?"

Master was still trying to get up to his feet. "I'm blind. Status report!"

"I'm held down… can't move. Wands aimed at my head. And I'm still soaking wet!" Wearing this armor while being this wet… it sucks. Almost beats having two wands aimed at my head.

"Where is my wife?" Neloth asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to see her still meditating, even without the circles covering her. "Still meditating."

"No…" She called. "Fighting the influence. Can't stop… have to focus. It's too powerful now. I can't deviate from where I'm sitting. I'll lose my concentration… as well as my mind. And then you'll be likely fighting me as well as Brand-Shei and his puppets."

One of my captors looked at the other. "Did she just call us puppets?"

The other one scoffed. "I'm no one's puppet!"

"For the glory of Miraak!" One of the other masked people said.

"For the glory!" My two captors screamed in unison of the others. One looked at the other. "That does not prove we're puppets though."

"He will rise again!"

"He will rise!"

"We shall ride the dragons to everlasting freedom!"

"Everlasting freedom!"

"We shall let the little girl go!" I screamed.

"Let her go!" My two captors said, letting my arms for a second. That was all I needed.

"Oh…" One of my captors said. "We screwed up, didn't we?"

"Yup!" I said as I rammed my palms into their faces, pushing out as much mana as possible. My subtle blue flames punched through their masks. The two captors fell to the ground, probably dead. I used that time to roll myself backwards, planting my feet down, and rolling right on up to a fighting stance. Just me and four others. "Don't worry, Master. I can take them."

"Good. I cannot see. This Illusion spell was well done. I cannot access my mind's eye either. I'm completely blind. Anything I might send out might hurt someone else. I need to find a way to cancel this spell."

"And I cannot move." Mistress Ildari repeated. "Best of luck for you, Veselle."

I stared down my four opponents. They were all dressed in the same robes, all wearing the same mask. I didn't know anything about them other than… they served Miraak. "So…" I stated as I slid back into my defensive stance, the Stoneflower Shuffle. I imagined roots shooting out of my feet, so that I could absorb more energy to create my own personal shield. I had to play this safe for right now. Until I knew more about what I was fighting. "You're all Miraak's puppets then?"

"We are his worshipers." One of them answered. "All hail Miraak." He screamed.

"Hail!" They pounded on their chests.

"Well, let's get this over with." I mumbled as I prepared myself for Stoneflower Shuffle. I wish I had a weapon with me, but at the moment, I didn't have any. So, I had to do this on my own. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for long. The worshipers were already sprinting straight for me. As they raced across the ashen land, there was something… off about all this. Where there used to be four… there were now 16. That's… more than we started with.

I began feeding energy from my palms as I waved them around in. The energy in my palm stretched out, forming a shield around me. Now… this shield only works if I continuously feed more energy into it, which means… I have to flash my palms around my front, flash as in move really quickly. And so… that's what I did. I flashed a shield around me. I sacrifice mobility in my legs for mobility in my palms, while absorbing mana through my roots and using that mana to form my shield. This is my ultimate defense… while not my only one. As the worshipers started attacking me with magicka… I think I chose the correct defense. As magicka rained down on top of me, my shield caught all of the attacks. I watched as sixteen plumes of fire, all dark red and black, rained down all around me. And my shield caught all of it.

Of course, only four of those attacks were real. But even so… with how strong these plumes of fire were… I was beginning to feel the heat. You know… there was something I was trying to adapt into this technique. The whole concept of Stoneflower Shuffle was to bunker down and protect myself… and I'm throwing energy out to form a protective shield… except… at the same time… my hands are waving around madly as I try to protect myself. This same energy, being directed from my hands, could just as easily be turned into an attack, or an even stronger shield. I just… had to harden my energy into a tighter beam… and then… I can either create a webbing of some kind to catch attacks, webbing that would last longer than a dissolving flame, or turn into a tiny beam of pure destruction. One of the two. And since I was stuck underneath these plumes of fire… now would be the time.

So… I focused on my left hand. I started imagining the energy within my arm constricting on its journey to my palm. The unruly flames within me condensing, becoming harder… stronger. I found it harder than I thought it would be… and all I got for all my concentration was a lacking on my left side where my shield should be. As the defense started to wane, I felt the heat on my left side starting to build, as well as the two real worshipers trying their best to hammer me. So… I decided now wasn't the time to experiment. Now was the time to… switch to my other form: Ash Storm. I released my roots, pushing as much of that energy into my feet as possible. I used that energy to blast me up into the sky, flashing up fast enough to escape the plumes of fire crashing in on my position.

So, I jumped about 30 feet into the air, where I could see all 16 worshipers at once. So, I brought as much energy to my palm as possible. They hadn't seen me yet, and were still blasting my last position with their red and black fire. I took aim with my palm and focused on creating 16 small balls of mana in my palms. It took me a second of focusing and now… the hard part. I willed the balls of mana to line up with the center of my palms, one behind the other. I had to do this pretty quickly. I took aim at my first two and fired. I flashed my two palms, taking more aim and firing again. And I did this again and again until I fired all 16 orbs. By then, I was already freefalling back to the ground. And by then, my first pair had crashed into the head of two worshipers. As soon as the orbs hit, the two worshipers vanished into a thick muck, much like the goons Hermeaus Mora sent after us.

I watched as just as quickly, the next pair and pair after that got hit. No one thought to move during this whole half a second. I guess they were stunned, but at least… before I even hit the ground, there were only four left. My 'attack' wasn't meant to hurt anyone, just reveal to me who the real fighters were. And now that I knew who they were… I wouldn't be able to forget. My 'attack' also left some amount of my own mana inside them. I can track it back to them if they try that stunt again.

As soon as I touched the ground, I went right into my custom fighting stance: Gold Kanet Blossoms. The worshipers already knew I was here, so I went right in, palms blazing. I flashed up to the guy right in front of me. I planted my foot down, and drove my palm right into his stomach, blasting his insides with as much mana as I had. It exploded outside his back as a thick blue cloud of mana. The worshiper groaned out as he fell forward, grabbing his stomach. "Miraak… forgive me." He stumbled onto the ground, slowly dying. My mana destroys his aura… which means… if I use it correctly, I can destroy parts of his soul. I may not kill him, but I can incapacitate him long enough to kill him.

I flashed past him up to the next two victims, who foolishly stood next to each other. I came up to the one at the end of the line first. I snapped out a leg, round-housing him in the face with a foot full of mana. As I kicked him, I snapped myself around, launching both palms at the person's head behind me. I sundered his mental aura while snapping the neck of the one in front of me. One was an ash yam… the other crow food. When I touched the ash, landing in a crouch… there was only one left.

"Run." I said to him. I put as much power in it as possible. And he did. He fell for my Suggestion spell. He turned and ran for his life. I raised my palm, shifting my energy stance to Ash Storm. I warmed up a massive ball of mana and traced it to his head. I let the ball launch and watched is it hit him, destroying his mental aura as well. There… all four were incapable of fighting now.

So that means… I turned around. Standing in front of Veselle's room, looking at me… was Brand-Shei. I brought my palm up to him, letting my mana leak out freely as a burning flame. "Drop her!" I Suggested.

"I'm no mere puppet, girl." Brand-Shei replied. "I do not fall victim to the Suggestion of others, however practiced they may be at it. While we're on the subject… Hermeaus Mora wants me to collect this girl, bring her to him alive… Miraak wants her dead. I serve Hermeaus Mora, but take orders from Miraak. So… I'm in bit of a conundrum here. Should I kill my daughter… or give her to my Lord? Surely, that would be an even crueler fate. Can you imagine the things he would do to her? He was very hurt and humiliated by her when she poked his favorite eye out. He might want to… pay her back for that. Maybe remove a limb or two, perhaps kill her himself. But… she is still my daughter. Should I kill her here, while she sleeps? It would be so merciful."

"You dare touch one hair on my daughter, and it will be the last thing you do, Brand-Shei." Master Neloth said, still rubbing his eyes, but glaring in the general direction of Veselle. He pulled out one of his charged wands, pointing it at Brand-Shei.

Brand-Shei was quick when he jerked Veselle in front of him, making her his shield. "Be careful, both of you. One wrong move and… well… perhaps _I_ won't have to kill my own daughter." He looked down at her. "Just look at her, all grown up. I missed her, you know. Couldn't wait to see her, but then to hear that I had to deliver her… I was so happy. Happy to know that my Lord was interested in her. The Lord of Fate and Knowledge, what couldn't be better?"

"Perhaps a life as a normal mage?" Master Neloth suggested.

Brand-Shei smirked. "Oh… but why be _normal_ when you can be something _grander_? Like when you offered to turn me from a normal merchant into a Telvanni Lord… with promises of making me one of the strongest mages this world has ever seen… all at the price of watching Veselle while you ran and hide like a baby. And you held up your end of the bargain. I became one of the strongest mages in the whole world… at the cost of watching Veselle. Oh… and my life. Anyway, I would love to stay and chat, but Veselle and I have catching up to do. I was just biding time until my portal was ready." A giant portal opened up behind him. "Toodles."

However… I don't think he expected an old friend to come walking out. And I didn't know it was a friend either. I just knew… as soon as he stepped back, he was blasted with green lightning. He groaned out, letting go of Veselle. Whoever was behind him, grabbed him and hulled him into the portal with her. I heard her scream, "Find the Dragonborn in Winterhold!" That was all we heard before the portal snapped shut, leaving us alone with Veselle lying on the ground.

"Winterhold, huh?" Master Neloth asked as he rubbed his eyes. "The spell is finally beginning to wear off. I can see gray instead of white now."

I sighed. "Master… that's all there is out here. Gray."

"Get Veselle back to her room. Once I'm able, I will be there. I need to set up our new protection circle."

"Shouldn't I help with that?"

"Help Veselle _first_!" Master Neloth bellowed to me, making me snap into action.

I bolted right to action, running up to Veselle. She was still groaning in her sleep, shifting as she tried to fight whatever it was that was trying to hurt her. What was going on inside her head? Who was Brand-Shei? He called her his daughter, and it seemed like he had a falling out with Master Neloth. There was so much going on that I did not understand. I couldn't understand. I just had to do whatever I could do to protect her. I lifted her off the ground and dragged her the best I could back to her room, which wasn't even all that far away. I sluggishly tossed her into her bed, covering her with her comforter, making sure her pillow was properly fluffed before leaving. When I got outside, I could see Master Neloth standing in a newly prepared Triple Protection Circle with his wife. They were holding hands. Their energies met as one and… there was a blinding light. A large circle expanded through the town, making an even stronger protection circle border than the last one.

As soon as it finished, Mistress Ildari went back to meditating while Master Neloth ran over to me. "How is she?" He asked as he bolted past me and into the room.

"She seems fidgety but… back to what counts as normal, sir." He raced right past me and up to Veselle. As soon as he did, she coughed, and some blood splashed out of her mouth. Blood? How? Why? Was she getting worse.

Master Neloth turned to a bucket of water he set up earlier. Since she was running fevers, he was trying his best to fight whatever might be going on inside her. He wrung a cloth in the water before cleaning up the blood on her face and neck. "Just hang in there, Veselle." He paused as he replaced the water on the rag before setting it on her forehead. "I will find this Miraak… and put an end to this war of his." He turned to look at me. "You will stay here with Ildari and protect Veselle. I will travel to Winterhold and discuss the matter with the Dragonborn. Hopefully, he will come back with me to unravel this mystery. One way or another… I will end this war. This is personal now."

I nodded. "Roger. I'll guard the tower while you're away."

"You won't have to do much. Ildari and I upgraded the circle. What happened here… won't happen again. Unless our enemy knows some secrets I don't… that circle is perfect." He turned and headed for the door. "Good luck, Apprentice Mirri. I will see you soon, I hope."

"How are you going to get to Winterhold?"

"By ship, Mirri. In Raven Rock." Raven Rock? But…

"It's filled with those worshipers."

"And I will wipe them out… and peacefully quell the civilians. Meanwhile, you get some slave cuffs on the worshipers you spared here. Toss them in my observation cages in the tower. I'll deal with them when we get back."

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And… do get some new clothes on… you look dreadful." I looked down, seeing that I was covered head-to-toe in wet ash. And… I didn't even notice.

"Immediately." Oh yeah, that's definitely the first thing I'm going to do.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_Next chapter... Asger returns to Solstheim. And Mirri pretty much becomes the main POV until Veselle wakes up. Yup.  
_


	46. Mirri's Friends

**Cearbhail**:

_I'm trying to get back into the swing of things so... here we go.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Battlemage's Log: 4e207, 14th Eveningstar_

_It's been two weeks now since Master Neloth left to go find the Dragonborn High King. I don't know what's taking him so long. I could have traveled by horse all the way from Skyrim to Elsweyr by now and bought a nice house. Winterhold is literally right next to Windhelm, which is where his ship comes in. It should have been a day's walk at most. Either way, I've been doing my best to keep everyone calm. Mistress Ildari is still trying her best to fight any influence that might try to creep into her body, and there are still more attacks heading at our barriers. Veselle's 'father' repetitively patrols our settlement's barrier, making claims that no matter what we do, he'll still get her back. I wish I had something to fight him with, but I have nothing._

_Since I'm pretty much grounded to this town, and since I'm the only one that still has any mental acuity, I've been making sure the gardens are kept clean, the water still running as ever before. I've almost become the steward for the whole settlement. I don't really have to worry about any ash monsters coming in to fight us, but… there has been signs that we're not safe here anymore. Once… Talvas tried to walk into our village. He had floating sheets of ice behind him, like he was going to attack me once he walked through the barrier. As soon as he crossed the barrier… he passed out. Now he's in a coma too; just like Veselle. The other mages just stood there, right outside the barrier, each one glaring at me. Even my instructor, Master Teldryn, stood there glaring at me from behind his ash filter. He actually tried to destroy the barrier, but I guess he's not strong enough to break the enchantments Masters Neloth and Ildari set down._

_So, as I run through my day set up, I have already taken care of preparing Mistress Ildari's meditation bath. She finds that it's easier on her mind if she rests in a bathtub. The sound of her breathing underwater helps drown out the voice of Hermeaus Mora or something like that. And while she's keeping herself partially drowned, I'm taking care of both Veselle and Talvas. They both need daily supplements and need to be hydrated. I learned enough from Mistress Ildari to know a certain circle that we set up to help teleport food and water into their stomachs. I just have to place the food on the circle and then activate it. The teleportation takes care of the rest. I do this once a day, as Mistress Ildari advises, unless something happens. And if it does, another circle designed to keep their health in check will alert me to the problem. The past two weeks have been mostly like clockwork. I get up, I check on Talvas and Veselle, and then I go take care of the farm. I check the barrier on my way to the gardens, and then I check on Mistress Ildari. After everything is checked and normalized, I go work out, practice my new energy arts. I have to stay on top form. Even learned some new spells from the tomes in the library. I'm certain I can modify these spells into my martial arts somehow._

_Better get back to my tasks,_

_Battlemage Mirri Severin._

_…_

I can't believe I could ever feel this lonely. I mean… I grew up in a family of trained assassins, the Morag Tong. My father might not have been a great man, and he may have trained me to kill Redorans, but… he was still my father and he was there for me when I needed him to be. And I had a pretty standard mother too. They both pushed me hard, but if I ever needed to talk to someone, they would respond back, and often give me great life lessons in the process. And when that all changed… when my family was suddenly taken from me, I was immediately given a new one: Veselle and her family. As I've adjusted to living here, I've gotten used to all the crazy people living here. And it's because of this that… when this town is practically dead… I feel like I'm all alone.

The only company I have is Mistress Ildari, and she's pretty much locked herself in her own coma in a filled bathtub. Veselle, my best friend, is currently sleeping in a coma of her own as well, and Talvas is similarly just like that. The barrier is patrolled by ash monsters that constantly try to bust it down with pure magicka strength. I spent the first three days constantly on alert, watching their attacks on the wall. Occasionally I'd rush over to destroy them, all in fear that the barrier would fall. After three days of defending the barrier, and essentially passing out right in front of it… I woke to find that the barrier was still up, still at full strength, and that ash monsters were covering every inch of the wall, banging on it. I slept for maybe 12 hours. For 12 hours, I was passed out, right in front of the barrier, while every monster available tried to break out defenses. And the barrier hadn't even slacked in the slightest.

Just having to deal with that realization told me that the barrier was as impenetrable as Master Neloth said it would be. I still check on the barrier every hour or so, still scan it for any signs of decay or weakness. The meshing is just too perfect, too self-reparative. Whatever damage that is taken is immediately fixed by a Restoration meshing that absorbs nearby magicka and uses it to repair the barrier. It's a great barrier if someone is constantly attacking it with magicka-induced attacks. Not to mention, no one can pass unless given authority by Mistress Ildari or Master Neloth. The only ones that _can_ enter live here. And Talvas already tried coming in here to fight. He went into a coma. It's probably a fail-safe measure for possessed entities or something like that. I've studied the barrier enough times to know how well it works, but I can't figure out most of the meshing that was used to create it.

So, since the barrier is sealed perfectly, I no longer had to worry about watching it so intently. And so… I would wander the village, check on the sleeping three people, and then… I would train. Like I would do back when I lived in Raven Rock. I would study texts, tomes of knowledge. I learned new spells and practiced them. I made new wands and staves; new tonfas enchanted with elemental runes for combat usage. I pretty much upgraded our whole arsenal. And no… we didn't have much of an arsenal before now. I made it from scratch. We had some staves, but they were specific ones for specific duties. Now… we had a whole arsenal to choose from. Any spell I could replicate became a combat item of some sort. It's been two weeks of nothing else to do.

But, no matter what I do… no matter how I try to distract myself… I'm still alone. I'm still stuck in this town with no one to really talk to. If I disturb Mistress Ildari, I might ruin her meditation, which might lead to her going crazy. I heard from Veselle that crazy Ildari was bad for everyone, so I decided it was probably in my best interest to let her focus.

Of course, we did have two prisoners locked away in the tower holding cell. They won't talk to me though. Also in comas. Jeez… comas seem to be coming into style like saying 'bae' or 'crae-crae'. Another thing I wish we could get rid of.

So, it was through this complete and utter isolation that I tended to spend my days hanging around the barrier, chatting to the ash monsters. I feel like they get me. Sure, they groan a lot, and they may have some issue with me if I step outside the barrier, but… as long as I stay on my side and them on theirs… well… at least I have someone to talk to.

And here I was… standing on my side of the barrier. A massive swarm of ash creatures standing in front of me, each of them throwing Ash at the barrier. As I watched, I could see the Ash explode lightly on the invisible wall of Restoration magicka. It made a small shimmering sparkle that spread across the invisible wall. I liked coming out here at night and watching the wall light up. It was like watching fireworks, only… there was an element of possible death if the fireworks ever dropped, even for a second.

"So… morning, Larry." I said to the ash monster I named Larry. I liked Larry. Larry was cool like a cucumber in the middle of a frost storm. Ugh… I've been hanging around unconscious Veselle too often. I'm starting to pick up her eccentricities. Or… or I'm going crazy from too much social withdrawal. Maybe.

"Good morning, Mirri." The ash monster replied as he hammered away at the barrier. "Did you enjoy the fruit cake I made for you last night?"

I found myself nodding as I looked down at the fruit basket in my hands. I must admit… I don't care much for fruitcake but… I did find the gesture very kind. "It was very delicious. Thanks for making it for me."

The ash monster shrugged as it splashed another volley of Ash at the barrier to no avail. "We're always here for you Mirri. If you open the door, we could have a party."

"A party? For me?" That was kind of him to offer, but unfortunately… I had duties I had to perform. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you in."

"Oh well… we're still bestest buddies." Larry responded.

I looked from Larry to the other six ash monsters all trying to get through the barrier too. "Morning everyone. Mike, Moesha, Yeager, Anne, Phil, and Bob." They all replied to my morning greeting as they continued to blast Ash at the barrier. "So, Anne, how's that baby of yours?"

"Won't sleep a wink. I tried rocking him on a tectonic plate but… he just won't calm down." Anne replied.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry to hear that. You should probably try feeding him a heart stone. I hear ash monsters enjoy them."

She nodded her thanks. "I think I will. Thanks for the help. You're the best."

I started to settle myself onto the ground as my friends chattered amongst themselves. I ran through the basket of fresh fruits I picked for myself. I ended up with an ash yam as my morning snack as I told my friends about my night of restlessness. They listened eagerly to my story, and I ended up spending a few hours alone just chatting about nothing to them. Every once in a while they would share a story with me about their lives in Oblivion. I kind of wish I could have gone to whatever realm they were from. If not only to see what their home lives were like.

Four hours passed and I was still just sitting in front of the barrier. I had just finished telling a story to Bob about a time when I was in a situation where I had to kill this five year-old boy… which I thought was a game back then. I was five too. Well, the boy really liked me… and my father didn't like that. So… we had to play a game of keeper's hide and seek. The boy would hide… and I would seek. If I found him, I had to poke him with this special needle thingy. Well… I found the boy, and I poked him in the arm like I was told to. No one told me the boy would fall asleep… and never wake up.

It was around that time that I heard a small laugh… a real laugh. "What are you doing?" I watched as Veselle's 'father' walked up to me. His arms were folded behind his back, his chest puffed out like he was holding himself proudly.

I nodded to Bob. "Telling a story to Bob."

"His name? He's a conjuration… he doesn't have a name. He's like a zombie, soulless and thoughtless." Veselle's father replied. "And… I've been watching for a few days. You come out here and… mutter to these monsters. And then you pretend that they're talking to you. Two weeks… you've been here for two weeks and you've already resorted to manifested personalities?" He shook his head. "You _must_ be crazy."

"Don't listen to him, Mirri." Bob said.

"He doesn't know how to talk to us." Anne responded back urgently.

"You should kill him before he denies us a second time." Terry also said. Oh yeah… Terry's here too. I try to ignore Terry. He has terrible advice. Heh heh. Oh man… was I really _that_ far gone?

I glanced away from the ash monsters over to Veselle's father. "What do you want?"

He glanced from me over to the ash monsters. He finally looked back. "I want in. And… you're going to let me in. Or…" He arched his hand over to my ash friends. "I will destroy them. Starting with Bob."

Hmm… let in the evil man that wanted nothing more than to take my best friend away from me… or let him kill my possible mentally created personified ash creatures that want nothing more than to get in and kill me. Hmm… that was a pretty hard decision. "I choose my friend."

He smirked. "Really?" He blasted Bob.

Bob screamed out in horror as his life force was suddenly snuffed away. "No! Mirri, you betrayed me! I thought we were bestest buddies!" He screamed as he was reduced to a pile of ash.

"No!" Anne screamed. "I loved him. Mirri… you bastard."

Veselle's father aimed his hand over to Anne next. "Let me through or… this one's next."

"No… not me. Anyone but me! I have a baby! Little Alexander needs me! Please, Mirri! Don't let him kill me! My baby needs me! His father left us when he was but a pile of cinder!"

"Three… two… one…" I closed my eyes as Veselle's father blasted her. I felt hot ash rain down on top of me as she exploded. I wiped the ash off my face… but when I pulled my hand away… it was clearly blood on my hands. I screamed as I jumped back, surprised that I was covered in blood. Blood exploded from Bob too… and I hadn't realized it. I was covered in the blood of Anne and Bob… and… that meant… they weren't figments. Or… or I was so crazy that I wasn't really covered in blood… I just thought I was. Man… how deep was this rabbit hole anyway? Where do I get off?

"Let… me… in…" Veselle's father said. He aimed his hand over at Yeager next.

I shook my head. "No… I can't." Another explosion of blood slammed me in the face. More hot blood dripping down as I kept my eyes shut. I didn't want any of this. I just wanted to get up and leave. But… I couldn't. I couldn't just abandon my friends like this. Not again.

"Mirri… yes you can. Mirri… wake up! And let me in!"

Wake up? Wait…

…

I felt my eyes slowly opening up. Man… how long was I sleeping for? As my vision started to clear up, I found myself leaning back against Veselle's bed, my head resting on my outstretched arm. Veselle was resting peacefully. As the world started to come back to me, I heard heavy knocks on the door.

"Mirri, unlock this door! I can't open it from this side." It was Master Neloth. He must finally be back now.

I wiped the drool off my cheek and my sleeve as I started to push myself up. "Yeah, I'm coming."

"Good, you're finally awake." Master Neloth responded from the other side of the door.

I slowly trudged my way over to the door, but as soon as I reached the doorknob, I came to a complete stop. "Wait…" I shook the weariness from my head. "How can I tell if you're really Master Neloth?"

He sighed. "Apprentice Mirri, I do not have time for any antics. The situation is dire and we need to get going. I have the Dragonborn High King with me and we need to begin preparations for our battle with Miraak."

Well, I don't think anyone knew about our mission to go find the High King from Skyrim and bring him back to help us fight another Dragonborn but… I couldn't know that for certain. Hermeaus Mora was involved and… he would pretty much do anything to get into this room, and he would know things as well. "That's not good enough."

Master Neloth sighed again. "Apprentice Mirri, while I appreciate the gesture of you attempting to sound in control of a possible hostile takeover situation… I must advise you stand back. I grow tired of your attempt at control and therefore will resolve this situation myself."

He's going to do what? I barely had time to ask myself that before the door exploded into tiny shards of wood. As the door, and half the wall, exploded into dust, I could clearly see Master Neloth standing on the other side of the door, his staff stretched out. Standing behind him was a lanky Nord with long brown wavy hair. He waved a welcome to me. "Hello. I'm Asger Stonearm… the High King of Skyrim, and lover of bacon. I'm here to entice your women, make them regret I'm married, and eat pancakes. And we're all out of women who resent me being married. Where are the pancakes?"

That was an introduction? Who was this guy? I glanced from him back to Master Neloth. "Um… sir?"

Master Neloth shook his head. "I know he seems… odd… but I assure you, this is the Dragonborn we were told to find."

Asger nodded his head. "Yes, and… the question still stands." He glanced back to Master Neloth. "Where are the pancakes?"

Master Neloth glanced over to me. "Pancakes seems to be a reference to an old bardic tale, where the pancakes were enticers to ancient flagged events that led to quests. I am assuming our Dragonborn is asking us where to begin our search to find Miraak."

Asger nodded. "Yeah… that's exactly what I meant. You mean… someone finally understands the reference? Jeez… it's felt like four years! And no one has gotten it yet!"

My head was spinning. Real… live… people. I'm not alone anymore! I wanted to say words, any words. Any words would do. I just had to figure out what to say. Come on, Mirri! You're socially awkward… but… so is he! And so what if you've been locked behind a door for the past two weeks, keeping yourself in an induced coma while you waited for the return of Master Neloth… you can't have gone too far off the reservation. Just introduce yourself like a normal girl.

"Hi, I dreamt I was friends with ash monsters and involuntarily let someone's scumbag father kill them in front of me!" I screamed to Asger as I stretched my hand out.

Crap. I don't think I'll ever find enough words to fix that. Why would I even say that? That made no logical sense!

Master Neloth's only response was rubbing his eyes exhaustedly. "Oh great… now you too." He glanced at me with longing. "You… I thought we had something. A serious…studious… practitioner. Not crazy, not abnormal… but it would seem two weeks of isolation have driven you to abnormality after all." He shook his head. "Rest in peace, studious Mirri. I will miss you."

Asger, on the other hand, didn't seem too bothered by my introduction. He took my hand, shaking it. Ooh! A real hand, shaking mine. It felt so nice. I missed this. Veselle's hand was comfortable whenever I got too out of it, but to have it voluntarily touching mine… yay. Small victory for the socially awkward. And socially isolated.

"Well, you're too normal." He responded. He glanced over to Master Neloth. "Oh, like you never watched as your best friend's parent slowly but surely killed off your friends in front of you."

Master Neloth glanced back at Asger. "High King, you're not serious, are you?"

He nodded. "You should meet Lydia sometime. She killed her own mother… with a birthday cupcake. And Ruby… both her parents were slaughtered by some pirate slaver guy. And me… well… that's a story for another day." He winked over to me. "Let's just say… some people like to call me… the Storyteller." Before I could even comprehend what it was he was trying to tell me, he clapped his hands. "So… this Miraak guy. We should find him, and kill him. Right?"

Master Neloth nodded. "Yes. He has enslaved the island, as you have seen for yourself."

Asger nodded back. "Any idea where we should start?" As Master Neloth was about to answer, Asger shushed him with his hand. His eyes darted for the center of the island. His nose began to twitch. "I smell… I smell…" He closed his eyes, turning around so that he faced wherever he was focusing on. "Pancakes." He pointed off in the distance. "The quest is that way." He nodded to Master Neloth and me. "We should go."

"Right you are." Master Neloth glanced at me. "Mirri… I think you should stay here."

"Stay here?" I finally found proper words to say. "But…" I couldn't stay here. I was already going out of my gourd just sleeping my days away. I mean, sure… I still got up and did things, but I spent all day in this room with Veselle, keeping her company. And keeping me sane…ish.

I pleaded to Master Neloth with my eyes as he looked me over. He was about to respond but he paused as he glanced into my eyes. After a few seconds of staring through me, probably using his Scrying Eyes spell, he finally sighed. "I see. Very well, Mirri. Collect your travel bag and meet us by the entrance to the barrier. We leave as soon as you are ready."

As soon as he said that, he started heading for the barrier. So… I had to get ready. I was already in my armor, thanks to the fact that I've been sleeping in my armor ever since Master Neloth left. It was the same armor Boethiah gave me, the ebony chainmail or something like that. There was only one other thing I could possible want. My belt of wands that I've been making ever since I got bored. There were perhaps 20 different wands all stuffed into the belt's wand holsters. That only took me a few seconds to put on before I was actually ready to go.

As I clicked the belt on, I glanced over to Veselle. She was still moaning lightly in her sleep, tossing a bit as if she were fighting in a bad dream. She was sweating a bit, but nothing too bad. I loaded a small bowl of water and oatmeal on the teleportation food circle on her table. I set it on automatic teleportation for whenever she needed it, and then I turned around to leave. I noticed Boethiah's gift to Veselle, a Daedric naginata. Without much thinking, I grabbed the naginata and spun it around my body. I found it pretty useful and balanced so I strapped it onto my back and raced out to join High King Asger and Master Neloth. It's my duty to protect this family. And sitting here isn't helping me much. I wanted to see what it would be like to stand beside two epic level fighters. I wonder… will I even be able to help? And if we find Miraak… will I just be a burden or a liability?

I shook the fear out of my head before I reached the two masters. I couldn't think like that. I needed to be here. I needed to help. For Veselle's sake. Someone had to tell her what it was like. Master Neloth sure won't be doing that. And I doubt even Veselle can coherently understand High King Asger's rambling. Either that… or I'm desperate for some social interaction. Probably the second one. I'm almost deathly sure of it. Yeah… I'm this bored. I'm abandoning my friend in need to get some much needed social interaction. Sorry, Veselle. And Bob. Sorry too Bob… and Anne. Terry… no. I'm not sorry for Terry the Terrible. He's a butt-face. No, seriously. His face… it looks like a butt. That why he acts like such an ass. Ha! … Oh, man. I've really lost it, haven't I? When I get back, I'm going to meditate until I resume my normal sanity.

"Well, time to find what we're made of!" High King Asger said as we walked out of the barrier. He glanced down at me, smiling. "I'm sure this adventure will be the stuff of legends! I bet… we'll find some ancient shrine, or temple… and at the base will be a quest giver. And he or she will likely have some idea as to what is really going on… and they'll lead us to the quest dungeon. And we'll fight numerous foes, evade numerous traps… and then… we'll finally meet the bad guy. And he'll own us… oh, he _will_ own us. Horribly. If not only so we can get a taste of his true potential. And then… plenty of backtracking… walking around, getting the sights, making sure we use the whole island to do it too! And then, we'll be forced to use a new mechanic that's been added to this island, some kind of mechanic that isn't in the rest of Skyrim! Like bending wills or something! Or traveling to another dimension at will! Something really grand! And, it will all come to a head as we're revealed to the true murderous villain… who only uses someone else to get what they want!" High King prattled on. He glanced over at me. "Doesn't that sound marvelous?"

I found myself shrugging. I was still reeling over the fact that I was communicating with a living person. I'm not crazy if I think he's talking to me. Because he's real. And he's talking to me. With real words. I just wanted to reach out and touch him. But I couldn't. That's not socially acceptable. And his aura… it just radiates with personality. Like… like I had to like him, because he's special or something. Like a main character. But that's a stupid thought. There's no such thing as a main character. Or… am I crazy because I'm thinking of auras and main characters? Am I still sleeping? Was this all a dream? I wonder… what's Veselle dreaming of right now?

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_It's been so long since I've updated this. After Shoutmen is next and... I'm kind of stuck on that. Might be willing to accept any suggestions. This chapter I knew basically what I wanted and rolled with everything else. Still hated it.  
_


	47. Ice Hell

**Cearbhail**:

_It's been so long, I know. Working night shifts is hitting me pretty hard right now. Waking up and not having enough thought energy to give to this is something I really have to work around. But anyway, I'm back and hopefully for good. I'm already late to going to bed. Sigh... oh well.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

_Battlemage's log: 4e207 14th Eveningstar_

_It's been about two weeks since Master Neloth left to go recruit the Dragonborn High King for our mission of finding Miraak and ending his monstrous presence on our island. The two of them only returned a few hours ago. For two weeks Master Neloth was gone, I'd spent my days patrolling the town, trying my best to keep everything going. Mistress Ildari locked herself into her personal chambers where she maintained her own sanity from the growing malicious presence in the air by taking a long… long bath. She claimed it would keep her too mentally relaxed to have to give into the madness resting in her head. I just hope she's right. I'd hate having to fight her._

_Well, just as I was going mentally crazy and dreaming that Veselle's fake father was killing my only friends at the moment, Master Neloth returned back to the town with the High King behind him. When I refused to open the door, Master Neloth opened it for me, and pretty much told me that they were going to find Miraak and end this. I begged to go along. How could I not? I was so bored! I'm sick of just sitting here, tending to the gardens, and waiting for a better tomorrow today._

_So, the three of us left to go find Miraak and put an end to his plans, whatever they were. As soon as we left the safety of our town's barrier, we were met by the rest of the village. They planned to stop us before we even left. Master Neloth took them out in a single spell: Sleep. No one even opposed us past that. And we followed behind the Dragonborn as he started to lead us to the center of the island, where he could feel the most dramatic tension built up as possible. I don't understand his methods, but I'm sure whatever magicka he's using to find Miraak is justified… he is the Dragonborn after all. Anyway, we're just starting to arrive at the temple now. How can I tell? All the bodies._

_Mirri Severin, Telvanni Battlemage._

_…_

"Think we're getting close?" Master Neloth asked the Dragonborn as we glanced down at the hundreds of dragon skeletons gathering around the base of the mountain's pathway. Up at the top of the mountain's pathway was what looked like an ancient temple. One I've seen before from a distance, but was always told to stay away from at all costs. My dad seemed to know about the place, and offered the advice that I should never venture too closely. Now that I know who's been living here this whole time, I get the feeling that dad knew about Miraak this whole time. If only he were still alive and willing to assist us in finding him, not to mention killing him. It was one of those weird times where I actually missed my old father. He may have used me to assassinate the Councilor of this island… and may have tried to kill me when I rejected the offer to kill Veselle, but… he was still my father. I do miss him.

"Yeah… I can taste it in the air. Dragonborn magick." Asger, the Dragonborn High King of Skyrim, said as he sniffed the air. "Just at the top of the mountain… that's where we'll find something worth taking note of." He didn't wait for us as he started heading up the pathway leading to the temple.

I glanced over at Master Neloth. He didn't look quite as sure but he followed behind the Dragonborn, glancing back at me for a moment, nodding. "Keep up, Apprentice Mirri. And keep your eyes open. I suspect this… Miraak will not be appreciative of us walking up to his front door. And Hermeaus Mora will have already reported our walk over here to him."

I tried my best to keep all of that in my head as we walked up the mountain. More and more skeletons of long passed dragons littered the ground, giving the illusion of a great battle once before, in a time that was never properly recorded or maintained. The Dragon War, as some have remembered it. Dad forced me to read about it in whatever tomes the Morag Tong managed to preserve. He thought it might come in handy with the dragons freely roaming the skies. He had a plan to deal with them once Hlaalu regained their power and influence among the Houses of Morrowind.

As we walked the pathway leading up, I started picking out sounds of hammers on stone. As we got closer to the temple, I could see more and more bewitched people walking around. They were busy trying to set up the same stuff that was being built right outside our town. It was some kind of webbing. What the webbing did, I did not really know. It looked like a portal device of some sort. I'm not really good when it comes to portal magicka, or ancient magicka at that. It was probably either really old dragon magick, or really old Daedric magick. Either way… it wasn't good news for anyone. Not to mention… the webbing seemed to be focused around the ancient god-worshiped stones that surrounded the island. There was one such stone outside Tel Mithryn, where my new family was keeping themselves located around. It looked like it was much the same here.

"Just like in Raven Rock." Asger said as he glanced at the people as they continued to hammer away at their massive webbing. Every once in a while, you could hear them mutter something about Miraak and his plan to free the world from the evils they've unleashed.

"Please, you have to listen to me!" We heard a newer, much more Nordic voice, scream ahead. "Ysra! Miraak is using you! You have to break his hold! Oslaf! Please!" She screamed.

Asger smiled. "What's that I hear? A quest giver?" He chuckled as he raced on ahead of us.

Master Neloth sighed, face-palming as he did so. "I do wish he would take this more seriously." He glanced down at me. "Please tell me you've regained your sanity."

Regained my sanity? I've had four hours of social contact; four hours to have real live people chat to me. And I'm introverted. One minute was all I needed to fill my social quota for a year or so. I found myself nodding. "Yes, sir. I'm good now."

He nodded, glancing away. "Good to have the studious Mirri back." He turned back to the running Dragonborn. "We should catch up. He might be running into a trap."

I nodded as the two of us chased after the Dragonborn. As we got closer and closer to the temple, the thicker the webbing that was covering the whole structure became. Whatever this massive webbing was designed to do, I couldn't really tell, but I knew it was dark and evil. You could feel it in the air. The Dragonborn said he could sniff out the dragon magick… and that would mean that this was ancient dragon stuff going on here. This evil thing feeling was somehow tied to dragons, and at the same time we knew it was tied back to Hermeaus Mora somehow. What was this webbing supposed to do? As I looked towards the center, I could see a massive stone, much bigger than the other holy stones that surrounded the island. But why?

"You!" The strange woman voice cried out. "What are you doing here?"

"Frea?" The Dragonborn shouted. By now Master Neloth and I were finally getting into eye sight of the Dragonborn, and what looked like a Skaal warrior. I remember seeing her a few times in Raven Rock. She visited a few times to deliver ash yams to her village, as well as honey from our local vender.

Frea, the strange Skaal warrior with long curly blond hair, waved her arms around at the villagers busily hammering the strange webbing… and I don't even know why they were doing that. It looked fairly finished. "What does it look like, Asger? I'm here for my family! If you haven't noticed, everyone on the island has lost their minds… and the people of my village have forgotten their memories, of our village. Most of my village are busy building something outside of the town… but a few of them have ventured here."

Asger nodded, glancing around the webbing. "Any idea why?"

Frea shook her head. "I am unsure, but my father Storn, our shaman of our village, says that Miraak has returned to Solstheim… but that is impossible."

"Impossible?" Master Neloth asked. "My dear, there is no such thing as impossible. Just undiscovered territory."

"And Miraak has already tried to have me killed." Asger said in his defense.

Frea nodded. "Then it would seem that we both have a reason to be here. Fate has decreed that the two of us would meet again, and once again in undiscovered territory. I wish it we would have met under better circumstances, but we seldom meet like in that fashion."

The Dragonborn nodded. "Yeah… remember last time?"

She nodded. "Yes, I do. I prefer to keep it in the past."

The Dragonborn shrugged. "Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Perhaps not for you, but you finished before I had the chance."

He shrugged. "It was not the most ideal ending we could have hoped for but… you have to admit… for what we had going on at the time… it was the best I could have given to the effort."

"What?" I couldn't help but ask. And as soon as I did, everyone looked down at me.

The two adults glancing at me quickly averted their eyes. Frea glanced back at the Dragonborn, pointing her armored finger at him. "We will continue this conversation later. For now, we must deal with Miraak."

Asger nodded. "Of course, but first… you're obviously here on a mission. And just like last time, you know all the details of how to get the job done quickly and effectively."

She smirked. "Sorry, I forgot my lotion this time."

That brought a laugh from Asger. "You know what I meant. And… that lotion didn't help nearly as much as you think it did. I still had a lot of burning and pealing skin to deal with."

That brought a laugh from her. "As I would expect after having to face down a dragon lord. A problem a lot of men have when facing the dragon. They enter her lair thinking they'll just knock things around, slay the dragon, and walk out unscathed, but… as soon as they're in… they find out they can't just walk out in one piece."

I started covering my ears, hoping that whatever they were talking about was not what I thought they were talking about. As I did so, Master Neloth glanced back at me, rolling his eyes. "Apprentice Mirri, steady yourself. You might learn a thing or two from this conversation. Vital quest objectives, in fact." What vital quest objectives could I possible learn from two people talking about their sexual encounter years ago?

As I glanced at the talking Dragonborn and his once 'acquainted' friend, Asger asked, "All joking aside, Frea. I know you do your homework before you set off on an adventure. So, Miraak. I know some things about him… like he's a Dragonborn or something like that. Any intel you wish to share with the group?"

Frea nodded. "Miraak is an ancient name from a forgotten time, old as any history from Solstheim can be. He used to serve the dragons back when they were the rules of man. He was one of their respected priests, like the skeletal ones I'm sure you've faced by now."

Asger shrugged. "Only two, I think." He started counting on his fingers. "There was the one in the Labyrinthian… and the one guarding the entrance to Sovngarde. Other than those two, I don't think I've faced any other ones."

Frea shrugged. "Whatever the case might be, Miraak was different. When it came time for the dragon rebellion, Miraak turned his back on the dragons. He sought his own path, and sought to claim Solstheim as his own. The dragons didn't like that however. And you can see how that ended for them." She pointed back towards the pathway, which I knew was filled with hundreds of skeletal remains of the dragons that were here before.

Asger nodded. "Ok, so I think I know more of what's going on. What else can you tell me?"

"Well…" She started to say before lightning crashed down all around us. I looked for the cause of the lightning, and found it in the form of those brainwashed worshipers that wore those ugly tentacle masks.

"Great… more of them." Asger said as he started raising a small protective Shield spell, absorbing the incoming barrage of lightning. "Thank you, Master Tolfdir!"

More and more of the cultists started running over towards us through a small pathway leading into the temple. They were all using some kind of magicka to fight us. Fire, Frost, and Lightning… the only Destruction spells anyone ever seems to know for some odd reason, flew all around us. Master Neloth and the Dragonborn quickly went to work, evading the cultists' attacks while sending back their own magicka attacks. Frea, the Skaal warrior, was getting ready to fight as well.

I watched as the Skaal pulled out two wicked battle axes, screaming a Nordic war cry before charging in to fight the nearest cultists near her. She moved like a hurricane, slashing her axes with a grace I had practiced many times, and have only ever seen in the way my mom and dad moved when they sparred with each other, a grace I had never obtained. As she charged the field, all I could see behind her were severed limbs and bleeding corpses.

I shook my head as I watched the Dragonborn Shout people apart with FUS. I watched as Master Neloth teleported people's heads off their bodies, making them pop up inside someone else's chest or somewhere else. And here I was… the trained assassin… just standing here and watching. It felt glorious to watch masters do their thing, but I couldn't just stand back. I had to do something.

I scanned the battlefield for something I could do… someone I could fight. And I finally found a cultist just standing around like an idiot, watching the same fight I was watching unfold. He would be my battle. I unsheathed Veselle's Daedric naginata and flashed up to the poor unsuspecting cultist. He didn't really have much time to react to me either. As soon as I flashed up to him, he jumped back, a bit surprised. He squealed out a muffled scream as I thrust the naginata into his chest.

The cultist reacted pretty well, I was surprised. As soon as I thrust out at him, his left hand snatched out, knocking it away from him at the last minute by use of a Telekinesis spell… or Repulse spell. I think it was the latter one; I would know because I've been working on a Telekinesis spell of my own, and his seemed just a bit different, more pulse-like.

So, as my thrust harmlessly grazed past him, he threw his arms up into the air. "No! Please, I'm not like them!" He sounded so young. When I got a closer look at him, I noticed he wasn't as tall or as well-built as the other cultists. He looked like a young teen, perhaps even my age.

Too bad I was the only one that heard him. "IISS!" The Dragonborn Shouted. I had just enough time to look behind me to see a giant cloud of white stuff flying into my face. I turned around quickly and wrapped my arms around the cultist, both trying to protect him… and kind of out of fear of what was flying at us. Next thing I knew, I was incased in a full sheet of immobilizing ice. Just me and… the boy… wrapped up in my arms.

"What is this?" He managed to squeak out through his frozen mouth.

"Apprentice Mirri…" Master Neloth's muffled voice quietly worked its way through my elven ears. "I don't know what your father taught you during your training drills, but… we do not hug our enemies before we kill them. Now… you're going to sit in there and think about what you've done. Let the embarrassment of being sealed with your worst enemy sink into you. Let his warm body rubbing against yours be a constant reminder of this embarrassing act of mercy."

Yeah… I didn't really need him reminding me of the cultist's warm body pressed up against mine. If I could talk, I would be yelling at Master Neloth that he wasn't our enemy… I think. I'm not sure. As I looked around, trying to look anywhere but at the cultist's mask… I had time to register the fact that I… a very socially awkward battle-trained assassin was… trapped in a giant sheet of ice with my arms wrapped around a teenage cultist. In a way… I was a cultist too. My father was the cult leader, and I was his daughter, and number one trained executioner of his will. Yeah… I was raised in a cult. And this boy… was he in the same position I was? Raised in a cult? In the wrong place at the wrong time, but making the right choice when it mattered?

"Hey…" I managed to open my mouth enough to voice my thoughts at him. "Your father's a cultist, isn't he?"

"No." He replied. "There were reavers, hired by some witch a year ago to collect farmers for experimentation. My father's farm was hit… and the reavers took us all prisoner, expect my parents. They were the only ones to be killed for some reason. Then… one day all the reavers just went crazy. Started doing things, saying weird things about Miraak. And they took all of us prisoners… taking us up to this temple. People in robes marched out to greet us. Those of us with magicka… they tried to turn us into more of them. Made us drink this black stuff. Drove everyone crazy… me? I was smart. I was able to use my magicka to keep the liquid from traveling into my stomach to be processed. I repeated the same line everyone else did, and pretended to be just like them. Waiting for a chance to get away."

Wow… that must have been scary for him. A farmer that managed to survive a reaver raid and an abduction by these cultists. "Sorry to hear that." I turned my eyes over to Master Neloth. "Sir… I think he's on our side."

"I know you're trying to say things, Mirri, but I cannot hear you. Don't worry, we'll kill this evil cultist as soon as the ice thaws out. You have my word. Oh, and don't worry, I'll be sure to erase my memory of this embarrassing event from my head so that you are not constantly worried over your failure to kill even the smallest of enemies."

The boy scoffed. "Jerk."

"I heard that, cultist!" Master Neloth screamed at us.

"Oh, you heard that, but not me not being a cultist!" The boy screamed.

"Dragonborn, did you catch that last part?" Master Neloth's voice sounded less and less muffled. I think I felt my back starting to warm up. I didn't like that the more and more I was pressed up against this boy… the more uncomfortable I felt. I've been tortured before, but this was… different. I couldn't explain this shit, but I wanted it to stop. It was distracting, so very distracting. "It sounded like he's confessing to being a cultist."

"Please get me out of here." I tried to say.

The boy scoffed at me this time. "I'm not enjoying this either."

Of all the things that could have happened today, I was not expecting it to be this. I _definitely_ did _not_ expect it to end like this.

"Don't worry, Mirri. I almost have this ice melted. Just a second… longer… IISS!" He Shouted at us, which I felt hit me right in the back again, wrapping around us.

"Oh… come on!" Master Neloth muffled. "Why?"

"Sorry, I sneezed. I've grown a temporary allergy to romantic encounters." The Dragonborn muffled too.

Romantic encounters? Was he talking about his encounter with Frea earlier? That is when he started Shouting ice everywhere. "I just want this to be over." I squeaked out with what I hoped was a heavy sigh. How was I even breathing? Shouldn't I be dying from asphyxiation or something like that by now?

"I just wish I wasn't trying to push you away when we became trapped in ice." He mumbled back. I finally decided to look down and saw that both of his hands were placed perfectly on my breastplate. I really wanted nothing more than to kick him in the balls right now, if only I could move my leg out of that region to do so again.

"You think they'll figure out we're doing this on purpose?" Frea asked muffled from near the Dragonborn.

The Dragonborn chuckled to himself. "I've seen this many times before, with Ruby… Maleek… It's so classic that even I can't not see it happening. So… why not just make them face it now?" He tapped on the ice. "Kiss already!" He screamed to us.

Kiss? He wanted me to kiss this boy… that I just met? I'm an introvert. I need at least six years of solid crystal ball communication, with little personal contact, to even allow him to see me in person for longer than six seconds before saying that we're moving too fast. Besides, I didn't even know the boy's name, let alone what he looked like underneath all that tentacle mask.

The boy seemed to find this oddly amusing. "You have some weird friends."

"Not my friends… they're… well… one's my employer, one's a king… the other is… someone I've never met before." Why was he suddenly becoming chummy with me? I guess we weren't really enemies at the moment, otherwise I would have let him die incased in ice instead of protecting him the way I did. The fact that we were still even breathing was a miracle. We didn't have a large bubble to breathe through. "How are we still alive? I should have suffocated by now."

"I'm teleporting in new air for us." He replied. "Kind of like what I did with that liquid. Teleportation and Repulsion… the only two spells I can work with."

Teleportation. He could teleport things? "And… you haven't teleported us out of here because…?"

That seemed to hit him hard. "Huh…" I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. "I really hadn't thought of it. I'm not sure I'm strong enough to teleport both of us though. And once I do it with one of us… I won't have enough magicka left to get the other one out. If I leave… you'll die alone in here without someone to keep you warm. If I teleport you out… I'll run out of air and suffocate. So, I'll take the nice teleportation of air and warmth over suffocation and freezing, thanks very much."

I can't fault him on that. And he was probably right. "Fair enough."

And we stayed kind of like that for a few minutes. I could actually tell when he was teleporting in new air for us to breathe. I wish my arms weren't firmly wrapped around his back the way they were… since most of my magicka is directed through my palms and legs, I can't do much if they aren't at least pointing at the thing I want to kill or obliterate. My palms were pressed right into his back, aimed right back at me. Sure, I would survive, but he wouldn't. I might have enough force to break myself out of here, but he'd die. And I promised I would not waste unnecessary lives. I was trained as an assassin, but I won't kill like one.

"Don't worry!" The Dragonborn screamed as loudly as he could. "We're doing everything we can't to not get you out!" Jeez, just try to be subtle for once. "IISS!" I felt even more ice slam down around us. This was officially my first impression of the Dragonborn. Nothing I've heard about him from Ruby, or what I've read in Veselle's Chronicles Series… this… This will be my first official impression of the Dragonborn.

"High King… while I do enjoy torturing my young protégés to some degree, and I do find it necessary to install confidence in one's abilities as a mage… I must express that I feel that we are wasting too much time on this fun. We should hurry." Master Neloth muffled out from our left side.

The Dragonborn scoffed at the idea. "Me? Waste time? No, I don't think you understand how I work. Until I go into that temple… I swear to you… nothing will progress further. I could take you and everyone and go down to Elsweyr, get drunk, and then wake up on a pirate ship… and when we come back, nothing will have changed at all." What kind of evidence did he build his thought patterns on? He just thought that he could just ignore our plight and go do something else while we all just lived through this crap? What a jerk!

"High King… I understand if this is above your station. This is not Skyrim, and you don't have official worries here. You've only been harassed by the same cultists we have… and they will continue to harass you and your children until they've been dealt with, but I get it. You're very busy. We will do what we can, but without you… I'm afraid it won't be sufficient. I was told to get the Dragonborn; he was the only one that could kill Miraak once and for all."

The Dragonborn laughed. "I'm not saying any of that. I know how severe the problem here is, and I'm not leaving until I've fixed this island. But… if we ignore the little things while on this grand quest… you might learn that you've missed a lot of important steps along the way." He tapped the ice shell we were trapped in. "Like young love. These two… if I left them unattended… the boy would have probably left us after the battle was over, and resumed his life at the farm by himself, since his parents are dead and all that. Or abducted by reavers later on… I don't know. But, now he's with us. Because… I'm forcing him." He tapped on the ice again. "You're with us now, kid. And Mirri… kiss him."

"I'm so not doing that!" I screamed back.

There was a laugh from outside the ice. "Ah-huh. Sure you aren't." And just like that, the ice began to melt… and all at once. Before I knew what was happening, I felt out legs give out. And I was already moving forward when we were frozen against each other. That momentum, I didn't know it at the time, had frozen us sideways. We were already falling into each other's faces by the time we were frozen, I just hadn't realized it yet. And the fact that the boy was wearing a mask didn't stop our lips from touching. I think the cold made the mask weaker or something. It shattered once I landed on his face.

It was a weird second. I was lying on top of him, and our lips were touching. And the weird thing was… I didn't hate it, and I did enjoy it a lot. I didn't know anything about the boy: his name, his hobbies, or anything other than we both didn't have parents anymore. Well, Teldryn is pretty much my father now, so I guess I can't really say that. What the weird part was… knowing nothing about this boy, and having been socially distant for as long as I have been, not to mention trained to be, I found that we weren't pushing each other away. I wasn't doing everything I could to avoid this. I think I could have formulated sixty different ways to catch myself when we unfroze… made it so that this whole thing could have been avoided. Did I secretly want this to happen? Did I know how to land to _make_ it happen? So many things running around in my brain as I lied there on top of him.

"Ok, this is horrendous to watch, and we really need to get moving." Master Neloth said.

"But…" Frea said as she walked up with a bucket of popped corn. "I just put butter on this! Can it wait?"

"NO!" Master Neloth said. "My daughter's health is declining by the second! I want her out of her bed and safe!" That's right! Veselle was suffering while I was suffering… maybe. I'm not sure. This suffering was perhaps my favorite kind of suffering so far.

As our lips parted, and I started to push myself up and off the boy, I heard him gasp, "Rynamel Dres…"

"Mirri Severin." I replied. Well, at least I know his name now. That's a start, I guess.

"And… back to the task at hand." The Dragonborn said, nodding. "My job here with these two is over."

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

_So... who saw that coming? I didn't. No, really. I didn't. That was an instance where I was like... I should make Mirri do something. Perhaps run through countless enemies, using her marital arts and assassination skills, not to mention her wands and naginata, to carve through everyone and showcase her new magicka... or... I'll write in a cute boy. Make them kiss. Yeah... much better idea. I like that. Might as well. Maybe have her kill him later on too, once everyone is attached to him. yeah! Perfect... oh... I shouldn't have said that out loud. Or written it... and not erased it... huh...  
_


	48. Should I spoil it?

**Cearbhail**:

_So... you might be confused very soon. Very soon. Just, sit tight and have fun.  
_

_=^^= Enjoy..._

* * *

[4e 205, 28th Morningstar]

_"I would like to thank you for all you've done."_

_"It's really no problem, sir. She did give us a warning, and it almost cost her life."_

_"She managed to warn us about the Dominion. She was shot because of us. If I hadn't jumped in to save her when I did… I don't think she would have made it. I'm sorry I ditched you, Maleek."_

_"It was no problem, Ruby. I was able to beat that… whatever it was on my own. That Shield you raised at the last second though… it was something. Amazing. If I didn't know you… I'd say you were quite skilled at magicka."_

_"Well… you know. I have my little 'rocks'."_

_"I'll admit, they're pretty special. So are you."_

_"I would like to thank you again, for all you've done for my daughter."_

Daughter…

I felt my voice groan out, my chest thumping heavily as I started waking up. As I opened my eyes, I could see that I was resting in my old bed, still inside my old bedroom… the one from Riften. I could feel the house swaying lightly on the lake the town was built on top of, at least our section of it anyway.

I tried to sit up, but as I tried to do so, there was a sharp stinging pain in my stomach, one more in my chest too. This felt very familiar for me. I reached up to my bed sheet, pulling them off. My tiny chest and stomach were wrapped up in medical gauze, like I was a survivor of a war or something. I could see giant red-stained lumps of cloth taped down to where my sharp pains were coming from. I also noticed that… I was a lot shorter than I remember too.

Last I remembered… I was in Tel Mithryn. I was choking to death, and then I heard Mirri's voice. And then… well... here I am. I'm in this bed, back home in Riften. I reached for my throat, trying to find the inevitable scarring from where I tried to rip my own throat out. My throat was a little hoarse but as far as any marks or scratches, even dried blood… I didn't find anything. My throat was still pretty smooth. That's weird… almost as weird as waking up in Riften. Was it so bad at Tel Mithryn that we decided to run away from the whole island? It had to be. Our town was basically taken over. I'm sure of it.

I sighed, shaking my head as I tried to push myself out of bed. My freshly wrapped wounds were screaming in pain as I did so, and I felt my head rolling with the effort of staying conscious. I managed to scream out in pain before letting myself fall back onto my pillow.

"Veselle?" I heard someone scream, and he came crashing into my room, throwing himself through the door.

I came to a complete pause as I saw his face. Brand-Shei Tenvanni: my surrogate father. He was standing in my room, looking at me in complete wonder. "You're awake!"

"Awake?" I echoed as he walked into the room. "I should be dead."

He nodded. "You very well might have been if it hadn't been for our healer."

That's when I heard a light knock on my door. Ruby stuck her head in, only… she looked a lot younger, and shorter. "Hi… I'm Ruby."

I nodded. "Yeah… we've met before."

She rolled her eyes. "Only for a second. And I don't remember giving you my name." Her tail was flicking in what I thought was annoyance.

An Argonian followed in behind her. "I may have used your name when I passed by her. I do recall her listening to us as we stormed past her."

I was still astounded by how shorter she looked. She looked like she was a preteen, still wearing a light dress. The Argonian standing beside her was almost just as short, but had slightly thinner arms than I would have guessed for a famous assassin.

I was so lost in thought, trying to reason out why everything was going on like this… why everyone looked so different… why Brand-Shei was still alive that… I almost forgot that _I_ was also younger than I remembered too.

"What day is today?" I managed to croak out of my mouth.

Brand-Shei, or Dad, I guess… he glanced back at Ruby. "Is amnesia a thing?"

Ruby shrugged. "Could be. I'm not a very good healer yet so… I'm guessing it's battle trauma. Asger told me about his time in the Imperial Legion. Sometimes troops wake up with temporary-induced amnesia."

Dad nodded. He glanced back at me. "Veselle, today is 28th Morningstar."

28th Morningstar? "What year?"

That caused a lot of pause. Dad looked back at Ruby before looking back at me. "What year do _you_ think it is?"

I looked around the room. Ruby… Maleek… both were standing in my room. They looked like the day I first saw them. The day I first learned I was a summoner. Someone that had magicka, and a lot of it. Right before I learned from Master Neloth about how to become a better mage… right before I moved to Tel Mithryn just a few months later. I looked down at my chest. The two wounds I took from Dominion archers… that's what it felt like. I remember being shot by them. It couldn't be. What year was that? "4e 205?" I looked around.

Dad nodded. "Yup. Good… you had me worried." He gently rested his hand on my shoulder. "You've been sleeping for three days now."

Three days? The battle of Riften was on 25th Morningstar. So, that would mean… was I in the past then? Was this a dream? I looked down, pinching my own arm. I felt something very real and painful blast through me, and I knew from my experiences with hallucinations that it meant nothing. This could all be a dream after all. Honestly, I don't know why I even bothered with pinching myself. It seemed rather pointless.

I sighed, closing my eyes and trying to force myself awake. Nothing happened. I couldn't just… wake myself up? I've always been able to in the past whenever my nightmares became too realistic. And yet, I couldn't do it this time.

I snapped my eyes open, looking at everyone. They were all still here. This was weird. I'm not used to having dreams like this. But, there was one thing on my mind… one thing I needed to get off my chest. I looked up at Brand-Shei, my long dead surrogate father. He died in the battle, his cell crushed by Mehrunes Maven. He died in the battle to save Riften. And yet… here he was, standing in my room.

"Dad?" I started to ask him, but before I could really ask him what I wanted to know, he was already holding up his hand to stop me.

"I know… you're wondering how I'm out of prison." I guess that was one way of asking that, sure. "When that hulking monster stomped through our town, she stepped on the prison cells. She managed to break down my cell, and she also broke through the floodgates before ever hitting my cell. My cell was literally filling up with lake water, and I was beginning to drown. And then, my ceiling as well as my cell door were suddenly broken open by the force of the monster's foot. The water acted as a pushing agent, shoving me out of my tiny cell as the foot came crashing down. I was thrown out of my cell just in time to avoid being crushed to death by the monster. I managed to swim up, catch my breath, and escape the flooding prison.

"And because the entire prison is still filled with water from the lake, the prison has been shut down until they can rebuild the walls and drain the water out of the prison. Until then, I have a personal guard standing outside my house at each exit, keeping me under house arrest." Dad sat down on my bed, sighing as he looked me in the eye. "I'm sorry I had to leave you all alone… and I'm sorry that I will be leaving again soon. But, for now… at least we're back together."

I found myself nodding as he gently began to wrap me into a loose hug. "I love you, dad…" I whispered as tears began to fall from my eyes. He felt so real… and yet, I knew he couldn't be. There was no way this was real. And I really knew the truth… I was bewitched to think he was my father… and that he was really just a guardian for me while my real father, Neloth, searched for the witch that tried to kidnap me, who was really my mother the whole time.

And so… with him sitting on my bed, hugging me, I knew that this couldn't be real… but I really didn't care. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him as tightly as I could. I had to ease up once I noticed that my wounded spots were starting to hurt more. As soon as I eased up, Dad eased up too, looking at my bloodied wraps. "We should let you get back to resting. You shouldn't be up in this condition."

Ruby walked up to me, pulling out what looked like one of her healing crystals. She closed her eyes tightly, straining to feel something. "Um… I'm really not good at this but… I think I can stop the bleeding again." She opened her eyes, looking right down at me. "Just lie still and I'll begin fixing you. It might take a few hours."

I slowly let myself fall back into my bed. Dad stood up and walked out of the room, saying, "I'll go make you some waffles. You've got to be starving."

I did feel pretty hungry, but I didn't think I was up for chewing anything. "Um… can I have some juice instead?"

Ruby shook her head. "You have a hole in your stomach. No eating anything except healing herbs, and potions. Although… I hate those stupid potions." She looked back at the Argonian. "Maleek, you have healing herbs, right?" Oh… he was _Maleek_, Ruby's boyfriend! That made more sense. I thought it was him, but I never met him so I wouldn't know for certain. He was a green-scaled Argonian with orange eyes and orange-colored skin showing around his neck area. Short orange/yellow-tipped feathers sprouted from his head as well as a few small horns bridging near his skull and nose.

He shook his head. "Not on me, but I know what they look like. I'll go fetch some."

"Please and thank you." Ruby sang to him, watching him back out of the room. Once we were alone, she turned her attention back to me. "Now, I'm going to let those bandages sit for another hour before I change them. And yes… I do have to change them. No amount of screaming or punching me will change that. I will be seeing you without you wraps on. I'm already pretty familiar with Dunmer bodies… and you remind me a lot of this girl I used to know… pretty intimately. And no… I'm not a pervert, and I'm an ex-slave that used to do a lot of dirty things, so seeing you without clothes on won't bother me one bit, or surprise me. And to be honest… who do you think even got those bandages on you in the first place? My boyfriend? Uhhhhh…. No. He wouldn't even open his eyes the whole time I was rubbing healing ointment all over your body. I spent hours, HOURS, washing your blood off my fur, and it wasn't all wound blood either, just so you know! So, don't go judging me because of the fact that I've you see you without clothes on, and felt most of you up while healing your holes!"

I sat there, face flushed, as Ruby screamed out her entire confession to me in what felt like a loud annoying high-pitched growl of a voice. I couldn't believe we were having this conversation within earshot of my dad just in the next room. Seeing her standing there, tail flicking madly. Just seeing her stand there breathing heavily, tail flicking made me think of the her that I knew in my time. She acted a lot differently. "Wow, you're weird." I managed to say. What else could I say? 'Um… I know you so… I don't care?' Or 'Jeez you're different one year from now.' Or even, 'Wow, your hair is purple and not blue… I didn't think it could be that color.'

But, this was a dream. Might as well have some fun with it. "So, how's M'aiq?"

Ruby paused in her raving. "Huh? Um… you know him?"

Think of something. "I read the Chronicles…"

"The _what_?" Oh yeah… they don't exist yet. Oh well, make something up.

"Yeah, the Chronicles of… Gnarnia…" I pronounced the G, pretty much saying Guh-narnia.

Ruby crossed her arms. "Ok, you have my attention. So, what do these Chronicles have to do with M'aiq?"

"He read them to me…" I hope that sounds normal. Please be normal.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Ok. I believe you." She rubbed her chin in thought. "Last I saw M'aiq… he… um…" She closed her eyes in thought. "I was at a party, Asger's birthday party. He was dressed as a clown or something, making balloon animals. Or trying to anyway. His claws kept popping them all. And then I was fighting a dragon… and then I came here. And now I'm talking to you…" She started petting her braided purple mane. "And… um…" She shrugged. "What was the question again?"

"How's M'aiq?" I repeated my question, looking up at her. I tried to lean forward but it was useless. The pain in my chest was keeping me pretty much pinned to my bed now. Gods… this was some real pain right here. I hated it.

Ruby scratched her chin. "Um… I think he's fine. I'm not really sure."

"You ever talk to him?"

She shook her head. "No reason to."

"Really?" I pried. I think this was before she ever knew that M'aiq was really her father. I just couldn't keep it to myself if that were the case. Seeing her react would be too priceless.

She shrugged. "Really. He's just some Khajiit Daddy Asger hangs around. Always trying to be around me too." She leaned forward to whisper to me. "I think he wants to mount me."

All the images that sprung in my head were wrong in the worst way. I felt my eye tick as Ruby told me of all her encounters with him so far.

"When I first met him, he tried to hug me! I barely even knew the guy and he says this stupid Khajiit word, 'Niship' or something. He tries to hug me, and I kicked him in the balls! I thought if I crushed them, he wouldn't try to use them! And then he rolls around on the ground, asking why I'd kick him like that, and then I said there is no way I'd let him mount me like I'm his personal plaything. That shut him up. And I went along telling him in all the various ways I would not let him near me. You should have seen the look on his face. He was so crushed! Totally a perv in the making."

"He's your dad." I said.

Ruby paused… her tail flicking madly. "Niship… Nisha…" Her mouth widened in horror. "Oh… oh… shab! Shabla shab, fierfekla shabla di'kut!" She hit her own head. "How? How didn't I figure that out? He called me his daughter like… six times when he was grabbing his balls! And… I sat on his face… and I farted! Oh gods… Oh fucking Khajiit gods!" She screamed in her hands for a good few minutes before pausing. She looked up at me. "How did you know that?" She squinted as she walked up to me. She practically jumped into my bed, sitting right above my wounded areas. "Either you spill… or I will start poking you in the most uncomfortable way…" She bent down to see me eye-to-eye. "And I'm going to let you guess which _uncomfortable_ way I mean." She winked. That was not what I wanted to be hinted of.

So… this was what Ruby was like back then. "Um… he told me."

She glared at me, pressing herself harder on my stomach. "You're telling me… my real dad came in here, told you a story… and then said something like 'Oh, by the way, I have a daughter. Her name is Ruby.'" She glared at me.

I nodded. What else did Ruby share with me? "He also said that he had a son named Ksaan." I hope she believes it.

Ruby's tail flicked. Her eyes unfocused as she stared off at nothing. "I do remember an older Khajiit in a house with me. I forget what he looks like. Ksaan…" She hissed. "Huh… that does sound somewhat familiar." She started to push off my stomach. "Ok, let's say I believe you. What else did M'aiq tell you?"

I shook my head. "Nothing! Really! It was just a reflective thing when he said how much I reminded him of you!" I sure hope she believed that.

Ruby shrugged. "Ok, I'll take that with a grain of salt." She turned her attention to my chest, pushing down on the medical gauze. "It seems these bandages aren't holding very well." She looked up at me. "I hope Maleek returns soon with those healing herbs, otherwise we might have to deal with an infection. And the last thing you want is to have Maleek drinking Hist sap and then spitting it into your infection." Ruby looked up at the ceiling, petting her braid again. "Although… I enjoyed it when he did it for me." Oh gods… that sounded wrong.

I struggled to sit up, but the pain in my chest kept me locked in my bed. Ruby took her cue to get off me. "So, I bet you're wondering why you have holes in you in the first place."

Was I? I mean… I remember being shot with bows, but I also recall summoning a massive Aedric god thing to kill the Dominion soldiers for me. And then it healed me using its own energy to do so. So… if those wounds were healed, where did these come from? "Sure."

"Dominion archers shot at you when you tried to warn us of their arrival. You saved our lives, Veselle. I was able to fight them off with the help of Mjoll and Karliah. They're both concerned for you too. They'll be back once they get done with their quest."

"Quest? What quest?" I don't remember them ever going on a quest.

"To find the wooden mask." Ruby shrugged. "I guess they heard from an old friend, thought about doing something about it, and then left. I told them you were stable and so… they thought they had to leave otherwise never know what happened to their friend." She looked back at me. "But, when the fight was over, we found you sitting against your door, two arrows stuck in you. One in the chest, one in the stomach. I'm the only healer… kind of… so I started treating your wounds. Every bleeding hole."

So… everyone found me with arrows stuck in me. "You killed the Dominion? I didn't summon some giant dragon to kill them and then heal me?"

Ruby's ears folded back. "Oh… oh I see what's going on. When you woke up, you were confused. Did you… by any chance… remember a different set of events?"

I nodded. "Yeah… I summoned an Aedric Vermeister, a giant spiritual feathery dragon thing. He healed me, pulling out my arrows, and then wasted the Dominion. My father died in the battle! You never spoke to me! And then for the next year or so, I was in Solstheim with Lord Neloth, my real father, learning magicka! And then I met you! You were older, had blue mane fur, talked about M'aiq, your brother, and healed my crippled body! And now there's some Daedra trying to take over the island, and I'm stuck here… in this bed, two years in the past!"

Ruby stopped me. "None of that is real." She said to me quietly. "I mean… you think it is, but… there's a thing called battle trauma. You were dying, Veselle. I saved you. And in your quickly dying mind, you created a different outcome, a different life. Some sort of confusing alternate world that for whatever reason, had this… Neloth, whoever that is, as your father. And now… you're awake. Your shocked mind is trying to process all of it, and because of it… you're fighting to believe your fabricated past with that of our chaotic… very chaotic world."

I wanted to call her out on how I knew about her past, but that might only tell her that the story I told her was a lie… and if I think I know this Ruby was well as I think I do, it will end with punishment for lying to her. Just like Gwen. "Um… I guess that might be true."

Ruby touched my shoulder reassuringly. "It will take some time to process it, Veselle, but you'll see. After a few weeks, you'll be back to normal and this made up world will have felt like a bad dream."

I nodded. I didn't know what to think, but I guess I had to wait until I either woke up or until something else happened. I could be in a coma… and this might be what being in a coma would be like. I'm not entirely sure. Or… like Ruby said, I could have dreamt up everything past me getting shot with those arrows. I don't know! I'm so confused!

There was one way I could find out. I could ask Brand-Shei if I was really his daughter. If he knew that I remembered my past, then… he might just tell me the truth. Or, I could get it from the source itself. "Ruby, hand me the crystal ball."

She looked puzzled but she left the room, coming back a second later with a crystal ball in her hand. "This one?"

I nodded. "Call up Neloth."

She shook her head. "Um… no." She placed the crystal ball down. "I know what you're doing. You're regressing."

"We'll know the truth if you let me call him."

She crossed her arms. "And what would be my motivation in all this?"

I shrugged. "Cats are curious."

Her tail flicked. "Curiosity kills the cat. If you call him and he somehow validates your claims… you won't recover from your mental injuries! And if he rejects them, your mind might shatter! We need to let you rest." She glared at me for a few seconds before sighing. "Ok, I'll make you a deal. Two days!" She held up two fingers. "You rest and heal for two days! And then I'll let you call Neloth. Ok? Just let yourself rest for two days, and you'll have your answers. That way, your mind will settle, your wounds will bind. And you'll get normal sleep… hopefully."

I nodded. "Ok. Thanks, Ruby."

"Until then, I'm staying here." She said as she gestured to her sleeping bag lying on the ground.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you are." Just like when I got injured after fighting Mirri's father. "So, sleepover?"

She beamed at the suggestion. "Really? I have a friend? A friend that is not my future sister or my boyfriend?" She jumped up and down. "An actual normal friend! Yay!"

I'm guessing Ruby doesn't have any friends then. Not normal ones at least.

"I can't wait to shove my fingers in you!" She screamed. Um… maybe I don't _want_ to be Ruby's friend. "Um… I meant your wounds. To heal them. So we can do things together."

I don't even want to ask what kind of things she wanted to do with me. I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep. I'm sure that whenever I wake up, I can have this little chat with Ruby and we'll laugh about how stupid she was being represented in my coma nap. I'm sure we'll have a nice laugh about this.

"Um… sure, Ruby."

She jumped on her feet, clapping madly. "I can't wait. We can go shopping, talk about boys…"

Oh… ok. Normal friend stuff.

"You can show me some Dunmer stuff, like family recipes, Dunmer clothing. I raided your closet by the way." She held up one of my dresses Dad bought for me. "I really like this. Where can I buy one?"

I shrugged. "Um… Blacklight. That's where Dad gets all his stuff. He used to sell Dunmeri stuff." Before he was framed by someone for stealing.

Ruby nodded. "When you're able to walk, do you want to go visit Blacklight? I've never been there." Neither had I, honestly. But Dad went every two weeks or so to pick up more supplies. Sometimes he sent either Karliah or Mjoll to do it for him.

I nodded to her question. "Sure. Once I'm feeling up to it. Um… are you sure you want to be here? Aren't you on some important quest currently?" I read the Chronicles. I knew that her mother was fighting for her life, and that she had a wedding to get ready for just a few days from now.

Ruby shook her head. "It doesn't really matter. I wrote a letter to Lydia, telling her why I'm here. I'll be teleported back for the wedding and then I'll come right back here. Until then, I'm healing you. Besides, I don't have a home." She waved her hand around the room. "And this room… this is what I want someday." She reached down to the floor, lifting up a giant teddy bear I called The Lioness. "I mean… look at this! It's so fluffy!" She squeezed the bear to her, screaming, "I finally see the appeal of this! It's not as weird as I thought it was! I have to apologize to Ysolda sometime."

Ruby stayed like that for a few minutes, hugging The Lioness to death until Maleek walked back into the room, another Argonian following behind him. It was Zaliika, one of my best friends here in town. She waved to me. "Hi, Veselle. Nice to see you're awake."

I waved back. It kind of hurt to do it. "Hey, Zaliika."

Maleek held up a bunch of herbs. "Have all the cannabis we'll need." He looked back at Zaliika. "She's going to brew us a wonderful healing poultice… as well as a nice smoke that will help relax her while we stich her wounds."

Ruby nodded. "Oh… cannabis." She rolled her eyes. "I've just gotten over my moon sugar addiction… and now we have cannabis."

Maleek nodded, holding up another herb. "We have some catnip too."

Ruby groaned. "No! A thousand times, no! I don't… I…" She hesitated as Maleek walked over to her, holding the herb under her nose. "I…" She tried to brush her head against it, but Maleek chuckled as he lowered the herb to the ground. Ruby practically fell to the ground with it, rubbing her face on it. "Ugh… I hate myself right now…" She moaned as she rolled herself in the catnip.

Maleek laughed as he glanced down at her. "She's so cute." He looked over to me. "And now… we're going to get you as baked as possible." Great… just what I want.

* * *

**Cearbhail**:

So, Veselle is traveling back in time! Wow! It seems like everyone's doing it now! Only... is this for real? Or was it all a dream? Or is it a dream right now? Is it even a real Veselle? Who knows?


End file.
